Influence of Genotypes and Environments on Protein Content in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

An experiment was conducted to evaluate a set of chickpea genotypes for yield and protein content at four different locations during 2019-20. The results showed the differential response of chickpea genotypes and environment with respect to protein content. In general, the genotypes with low seed yield and small seed size (<20gm/100 seed) had higher protein content (>20%) as compared to those with high yield and bold seed size (>25gm/100 seed). Similarly, the protein content of all the five genotypes was observed higher (20.65, 23.06, 20.30, 20.65 and 20.76 percent, respectively) in Kota than the respective mean values (19.37, 21.03, 19.31, 19.87, 18.35 percent) while it was lower (16.35, 20.59, 17.53, 19.41, 16.32 percent) than mean values (19.37, 21.03, 19.31, 19.87, 18.35 percent) in Aklera as compared to other locations. This might be due to contrasting climatic conditions in Kota and Aklera indicating that the genotypes grown under irrigated conditions showed better quality over those grown in rainfed area. The genotypes RKG 13-515-1 and GNG 2144 showed consistent performance in terms of yield and protein content (20.65, 20.53, 19.96, 16.35, 19.37 percent and 23.06, 20.19, 20.30, 20.59, 21.03 percent, respectively) and can be used as parents in hybridization programme to develop transgressive segregants having high yield and protein content with early maturity.