Comparative Genetic Gain Study of Desi and Kabuli Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Varieties for Yield and Related Traits in Ethiopia

Abstract This trail was initiated to assess the rate of genetic gain achieved so far in Ethiopian chickpea improvement program to re-design an effective improvement strategy for the future activity. Twenty-eight Desi and Kabuli type chickpea varieties released in Ethiopia were included in this trail. As a result of simple linear regression analysis, the genetic gain in grain yield for Desi typechickpea varietie was ~ 33.44 kg/ha/year (P ≤ 0.01, R2 = 0.44) with relative genetic gain of 2.08% per year or about 95.68% in yield potential over the last 46 years since 1974 to 2020. On the other hand, there was non significant (7.9kg/ha/year, P ≥ 0.05, R2 = 0.021) genetic gain improvement in Kabuli type chickpea varieties with respect to grain yield with relative genetic gain of 0.37% per year or about 16.65% in grain yield potential over the last 45 years since 1974 to 2019. Besides, the genetic gain in terms of hundred seed weight were 0.24g per year (P ≤ 0.05, R2 = 0.27) for Desi type and 0.36g per year (P ≤ 0.01, R2 = 0.21) for Kabuli type chickpea varieties with relative genetic gain of 1.92% and 1.94% per year, in that order. This study revealed that in grain yield, better genetic gain was achieved in Desi type chickpea varieties than Kabuli type chickpea varieties whereas, remarkable genetic gain in seed size was attained in Kabuli type than in Desi type chickpea varieties.