Multivariate analysis for agro-morphological and cooking properties in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) germplasm

: The objective of the study is to reveal diversity among some chickpea germplasms and selection criteria for agromorphological and cooking properties using multivariate techniques for improving new cultivars. The experiment was arranged in augmented block design with 65 chickpea germplasms and 2 check cultivars during 2020/2021 and 2021/2022. Positive correlations of seed yield per plant were found with primer branches per plant, biological yield per plant, harvest index, pods per plant, and seeds per plant. The first four principal components (PCs) accounted for 88.8% of total existing variation for agromorphological traits. Seed dry weight showed positive and significant association with wet seed weight, hydration capacity, and swelling capacity. The first two principal components (PC s ) explained 83.64% of the total variation observed among the genotypes for cooking properties. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed that there were wide variability among the studied chickpea germplasms for contributing yield components and cooking properties. This variation among the chickpea germplasms can be used to improve new cultivars.