The Role of Conventional and Molecular Techniques for Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L) Improvement

Crops improvement depends on the availability of gene for better agronomic traits, disease resistance, earliness and high yield [1]. For this, characterization of genetic variability of a population is required since genetic variation within population and between species determines the rate of adaptive evolution and response to traditional crop improvement [2]. Genetic diversity is a raw material for evolution, thus enabling populations of species to survive, evolve and adapt to resist longterm changes in the environment. This is very important in the plant breeding strategies for developing high yielding varieties and for maintaining the productivity of such varieties through introduction of genes for resistance to disease, insect pests and other abiotic factor [3]. Genetic diversity of domestic species allows people to act as agents of selection and develop different forms of the same species for a variety of purposes, including enabling the producers to grow the same species in different environments, each with a different requirement of climate, pathogens, predators, competitors etc [2]. Differences within and between plants can be a strategic value to conservation as they provide a clear justification for protecting a species across its entire geographic range and all the subspecies of major populations.