Tarik Jousef Al-Azzam 
General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR)
Faculty of Agriculture, Damascus University
2010

Abstract

This study was carried within the cooperation between Faculty of Agriculture Damascus University and General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research at Ezraa Station for Field Crops Research during 2008-2009 seasons.
Ten genotypes of chickpea and two local varieties Ghab4 and Ghab5 (control) were used in this study. The randomized complete block design (RCBD) was used in this experiment and correlation coefficient was calculated to determine correlations between seed yield and studied traits. Path coefficient was calculated to determine the most effective traits in seed yield.
The results showed positive correlation between number of flowers and number of pods per plant (0.99) plus significant positive correlation between seed yield and 100-seed weight (0.83).
They also showed a significant advantage for genotype (10) versus other genotypes in terms of seed yield, 100-seed weight, flower holders, number of pods per plant, and early germination, flowering, filling-pods and maturity. While the genotype (7) showed a significant difference in plant height over all genotypes, but genotype (5) showed a significant difference in plant width, while genotype (1) showed a significant difference in number of seeds per pod. The results of path coefficient analysis showed that 100-seed weight, number of seeds per pod, and plant height were the most effective traits in increasing seed yield .
Finally, the results revealed the possibility of crossing between C. arietinum and both of C. reticulatum and C. echinospermum with high success (80-90%) but the other wild species didn’t show any possibility of crossing with C . arietinum.