MICROSATELLITE-BASED GENETIC DIVERSITY AND GRAIN QUALITY VARIATION IN CHICKPEA GENOTYPES FROM MEXICO AND INTERNATIONAL COLLECTIONS.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) breeding programs in Northwestern Mexico have focused in developing extra-largeseeded Kabuli cultivars, but additional efforts are required to generate genotypes with better grain quality traits. Information about molecular genetic diversity of Mexican chickpea germplasm and other genotypes from international collections may be valuable sources to improve nutritional properties. The aim of this study was to determine the genetic diversity based on microsatellite markers and the variation in grain quality traits of 14 Kabuli genotypes from Mexico and nine Desi genotypes from other countries. The hypothesis was that the genetic variation detected allows the differentiation of the genotypes according to their origin. DNA was extracted and analyzed with 31 markers distributed across the chickpea genome. A total of 164 alleles were obtained (average of 5.3 alleles per locus) and a total gene diversity of 0.72, which demonstrated a broad genetic base of the chickpeas analyzed. The UPGMA-cluster analysis, modelbased population structure and principal component analysis revealed two major groups, one formed by Desi chickpeas and the other by Kabuli genotypes. The chickpeas also showed a wide variability in seed coat color, seed weight, seed coat proportion, and starch, protein and phenolics content, which was significantly associated with 12 microsatellite markers. These genetic materials represent a broad source of variation for improving chickpea grain quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]