Chickpea is rich in protein and micronutrients and plays a significant role in human diet especially as accompaniment to staples, but grain yields in Ethiopia are still below the crop potential. Field experiments were conducted during 2007/8-2009/10 to determine relationships among yield and some yield components using correlation and path coefficient analysis in desi chickpea grown under rainfed conditions. Correlation studies revealed that seed yield was significantly and positively correlated with days to flowering, days to maturity, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, stand count at harvest, plant height and biomass. The path coefficient analysis based on seed yield, as a dependent variable, revealed that biomass had the greatest direct effect on seed yield (0.0146) and followed by stand count at harvest and plant height. Both correlation and path analyses indicated that biomass, stand count at harvest and plant height were the major direct contributors to seed yield. Thus, the present study suggests that more biomass production, stand count at harvest and plant height are major yield factors in selecting high yielding desi chickpea cultivars.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an economically important crop grown by nearly one million Ethiopian smallholder farmers. The crop is often considered as “stress‐loving,” but moisture stress at flowering and grain filling stages could be detrimental. Yield of chickpea is commonly affected by terminal drought stress in the rainfed production system in Ethiopia. The lack of proper field‐screening methods has hindered the development of drought‐tolerant varieties. This study demonstrates a simple and practical field‐level screening method for drought tolerance traits in the conventional breeding programs. A field experiment was conducted using 28 elite chickpea cultivars during the 2018–2019 main cropping season to study their response to moisture regimes of varying drought intensities. We used yield and its components as proxy parameters of screening to select tolerant cultivars. The study revealed significant variation among the cultivars in their response to different moisture regimes. The kabuli cultivars were found more sensitive compared with the desi types. Yield penalty exceeded 70% under severe drought. Conversely, cultivars tested under mild and severe stress drought showed average yield gain of 22 and 48%, respectively, relative to the irrigated treatment. Overall, over 50% yield gain can be obtained in drought‐affected rainfed production areas in Ethiopia using supplemental irrigation during pod setting to grain filling stages. For post‐rainy‐season crops relying on residual soil moisture, such as chickpea, breeding for shorter duration and resilient cultivars are reliable management approaches to minimize drought‐caused yield losses.

The genetic progress in seed yield and yield related characters of 10 kabuli chickpea varieties released by the Ethiopian Chickpea Crop Improvement Program from 1974 to 2017 was assessed during the main cropping season. The varieties were evaluated in the Randomized Complete Block design at Debrezeit Agricultural Research Center experimental research farm. The overall increase in seed yield over the local check, DZ-10-4, was estimated to be 739 kg/ha (38.9%). On station grain yield increased from 1900 to 3250 kg/ha during the last 43 years and the overall increase in seed yield of the Arerti variety over the oldest variety DZ-10-4 was estimated to be 1350 kg/ha or 71.1%. Based on the regression analysis, the estimated average annual rate of increase in grain yield potential was 10.87kg/ha/year with an annual relative genetic change of 0.57%/year. Genotypic change was an important source for increased grain yield potential during the studied period. Positive genetic gains were observed for the yield traits (grain yield and yield components). The average cumulative gains over 43 years of breeding was, therefore, 445.67 kg (23.37%) for seed yield, and 30.26 g for hundred seeds weight (297.7%). Hundred seed weight revealed the most dramatic response to breeding for the last 43 years. It is, therefore, strategically advisable that breeding efforts in the future should give due attention to yield related traits of kabuli chickpea varieties.