Major genes with additive effects for seed size in kabuli chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

In the present investigation, inheritance of seed size was studied in a cross involving two small-seeded kabuli cultivars, ICCV 2 and L 550. Mean 100-seed weight (100 SW) of parents and that of their F1 generation were similar. However, transgressive segregants were obtained in F2 generation in both directions. Considering the segregation pattern, plants in F2 and backcross generations were divided into three groups, 100 SW less than F1/parents (<F1P1P2), 100 SW similar to F1/parents (F1P1P2), and 100 SW greater than F1/parents (>F1P1P2). The numbers of plants in the three groups in F2 fitted well to an expected ratio of 5:6:5 (χ2 = 2.15, P = 0.34), and in backcross generations to an expected ratio 1:2:1 (χ2 = 0.94, P = 0.33 in BC1P1, and χ2 = 3.89, P = 0.14 in BC1P2), which suggested that seed size in the two parents is controlled by two genes exhibiting additive effects with each parent having one pair of alleles with increasing effect at one locus in homozygous form