Nodulation pattern and its association with seed yield in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) germplasms

The present research was designed to ascertain some new high yielding chickpea germplasms with associated desirable nodulation pattern. Evaluation of sixty chickpea germplasms collected from different sources were assessed at CalcuttaUniversity’s experimental farm during rabi season for four consecutive years from which twenty five were selected as high yielding germplasms. These high yielding germplasms were chosen to evaluate the nodulation pattern at various physiologicalstages under field conditions. In all three physiological stages, highly significant differences were observed for the traits like the number of nodules plant-1, nodule fresh weight, nodule dry weight and seed yield plant-1 except nodule size.Positive and significant genotypic associations were found between numbers of nodule plant-1, nodule fresh weight, nodule dry weight with seed yield plant-1. Digbijoy, CUSL4 and CUML4 could be considered as worthy resources in future due to highnodulation pattern and presence of active nitrogenase enzymes at pod initiation stage.