The inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) marker was used in this study for genetic fingerprinting and identification of released chickpea varieties and for the determination of the genetic relationships among these cultivars. A total of 19 released chickpea varieties were subjected to ISSR analysis with the objective of evaluating the genetic diversity among the cultivars. A total of 20 ISSR primers were initially screened and later based on their reproducibility and polymorphism, four of them were selected for the molecular diversity assay. Amplification of genomic DNA of the 19 varieties using four ISSR primers produced 38 scorable fragments. On average, 9.5 polymorphic bands per primer were observed in ISSR analysis. The total number of bands amplified by 3' anchored primers varied from 7 to 12. The primers based on poly (GGAGA) and (AG)YT repeat motifs produced highest number of fragments (10 and 12, respectively), whereas, primers GACA and (GA)T, produced minimum number of fragments (7 and 9, respectively). Overall, 81.58% of the loci were polymorphic and 96.17 and 3.83% of variation were partitioned into within and among population, respectively. The least genetic similarity was recorded between the varieties, Shasho and Minjar (0.41), and highest genetic similarity (0.97) between the varieties, Worku and Kutaye. The UPGMA dendrogram clustered all genotypes into four different clusters and three varieties such as Shasho, Chefe and DZ-10-11 observed to be an out lie. The results indicate the presence of genetic diversity within released cultivars of chickpea in Ethiopia.

Background and Objective: Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is a diploid plant with chromosome number of 2n=20 which belongs to family of Euphorbiaceous and genus Ricinus.  Correlation alone is not efficient for variability studies. So, it should be in conjugation with Path co- efficient analysis to know the direct and indirect effects. This study was conducted to assess the role of evaluating path coefficient analysis in castor. Materials and Methods: A Field experiment was carried out to determine direct and indirect effects of yield and its components in castor accessions at Melkassa, central rift valley of Ethiopia under irrigation in 2014. The experiment was conducted using a randomized complete block design with 3 replications and a total of 48 castor accessions were evaluated. Results: Number of capsules per plant, number of primary branches per plant, length of inter node and hundred seed weight had exerted positive direct effect for both at phenotypic and genotypic path analysis.Phenotypic and genotypic path analysis showed that the number of capsules per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, length of inter node, days to 50% second flowering and seed yield exhibited positive direct effect on oil content.  Conclusion: Thus, traits like number of capsules per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, length of inter nod and days to 50% second flowering should be given emphasis in improving seed yield.

This research aim to assess morphological diversity of the elite chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties in Ethiopia. Nineteen elite varieties of chickpea in Ethiopia were used to analyze the means and components of variability (genetic, phenotypic and environmental), and interrelationships (genetic and phenotypic) for yield and various other yield components. Such nineteen varieties were planted by the technique of Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and three replications were used. Each genotype was sown in four rows with 4.8 m 2 (1 m x 4.8 m) plots area, with 40 cm and 1 m spacing between plots and blocks, respectively. In each plot, one hundred and sixty seeds were planted, using 10 cm spacing between plants These nineteen elite varieties of chickpea were evaluated for the traits of hundred seed weight, biological yield, grain yield, plant height, days to 50% flowering, number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, harvest index and days to 90% maturity. Genetic variations were evident among released chickpea cultivars as confirmed by high phenotypic and genotypic variations for quantitative and qualitative traits. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the genotypes for all the characters except hundred seeds weight, days of 50% flowering and grain yield. Strong and positive significant correlation was observed between grain yield, biological yield, number of seeds per plant, number of pods per plant and number of primary branches; showing that their improvement led to yield improvement in chickpea. The result suggested from the mean values of number of seeds per plant, number of pods per plant and days of maturity that chickpea genotypes ICCV-14808, Mariye and ICCV-92069 may be used as parents in further breeding program to develop high yielding cultivars. Principal component analysis revealed that quantitative traits contributed a lot to chickpea genetic variability.