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Experiments were conducted to evaluate response of two genetically different drought tolerant varieties of Cicer arietinum L. namely PUSA 1103, Desi variety and PUSA 1105, Kabuli variety to the basal applications of nickel chloride doses viz; 0, 0.62, 3.12, 12.5, 62.5 and 125 µg g-1. Significant increase in the growth was observed at 0.62 and 3.12 µg g-1 nickel chloride doses. Addition of nickel dose above this level reduced the leaf area, plant growth, root length and yield of the plants. Fruiting stage showed more severe toxicity symptoms in comparison to the vegetative stages. Protein contents in seeds and chlorophyll contents along with nitrate reductase activity increased significantly in the leaves at the lower nickel doses. Peroxidase and superoxide-dismutase activities increased in a concomitant manner with increasing nickel concentrations. Increased concentrations of the soil applied nickel demonstrated an increase in the content of nickel higher in shoots also followed by roots. Accumulation of nickel and grain yield was higher in Desi chickpea variety PUSA 1103, indicating for its potential utilization in crop improvement strategies to breed new chickpea genotypes for nickel and drought resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chickpea is one of the most important pulse crops in the world. However, chickpea productivity is not high enough to fulfill the requirements of an ever-increasing demand. One of the major constraints in the chickpea improvement is the narrow genetic base in the cultivated chickpea (Cicer arietinum L) and its sexual incompatibility with other Cicer species. Knowledge of molecular characterization, genetic diversity, and relatedness in the germplasm is a prerequisite for varietal registration, protection and overall crop improvement. The present study reports molecular characterization of 75 genotypes using 46 STMS markers. All the STMS loci were found to be highly polymorphic. A total of 132 alleles were found with an average of 2.87 per locus. The highest numbers of alleles were observed with marker TA-21. A cluster analysis arranged these 75 genotypes in 7 clusters. The genotypes ICRISAT 3073 and Pusa 212 showed remarkable genetic similarity (0.796) and the largest genetic distance was observed between C. reticulatum wild-1 and CSG 9505 (0.547). The present analysis provides an insight into the interrelationship among the genotypes and highlights the requirement for effective supplementation of morphological data with additional molecular markers to efficiently unearth the genetic inter-relationship among the genotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]