OAR@ICRISATMolecular mapping of flowering time genes in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)B PMallikarjunaauthorFlowering time is an important component of adaptation and productivity of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in semi-arid environments characterized by terminal drought stress. The present study was aimed at identifying molecular markers linked to flowering time genes in four F2 populations of chickpea. Genetic studies revealed that flowering time was determined by a single major gene in the crosses ICCV 96029 × CDC Frontier, BGD 132 × CDC Frontier and ICC 16641 × CDC Frontier. Whereas in the cross ICC 5810 × CDC Frontier, it was under digenic control with complementary gene action. The intra-specific genetic map developed consisted of 77 markers, spanning 262.25 cM in the cross ICCV 96029 × CDC Frontier and 76 markers with 335.74 cM map distance in the cross ICC 5810 × CDC Frontier. The genetic map of BGD 132 × CDC Frontier consisted of 68 markers covering 311.10 cM map distance and that of ICC 16641 × CDC Frontier had 67 SSRs with 385.13 cM genome coverage. Consensus map developed from four populations consisted 111 SSRs and covered the map distance of 364.44 cM. QTL analysis detected altogether seven major (Qefl1-2, Qefl2-1, Qefl2-2, Qefl2-3, Qefl2-4, Qefl3-3, Qefl4-1) and three minor QTLs (Qefl1-1, Qefl3-1, Qefl3-2) for flowering time that are distributed on linkage groups CaLG01, CaLG03, CaLG04, CaLG06 and CaLG08 of chickpea genetic map. Analysis of QTL regions provided important candidate genes like SUVR5, SET6, HOS1, TEM1, EFL6, JMJ11 and homeotic genes like AP2, ANT, SPT, AHL27 and PTL, that are known to be involved in various functions like regulation of flowering time and flower development. Flowering time was positively correlated with key phenological traits and showed no correlation with grain yield in all the crosses. Flowering time showed positive correlation with 100 seed weight in all the crosses except in the cross ICC 16641 × CDC Frontier, where the correlation was non-significant. Harvest index was negatively associated with flowering time. The identified genomic regions with linked markers can be deployed for introgressing early flowering trait into elite chickpea cultivars through marker-assisted selection (MAS) to develop early maturing cultivars better adapted to terminal stress conditions.Chickpea2015University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur - 584104;Department of Genetics and Plant BreedingThesis

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