Genetic diversity and association mapping of iron and zinc concentrations in chickpea (Cicer arietinumL.)

Abstract

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the world's second most important pulse crop after common bean. Chickpea has historically been an important daily staple in the diet of millions of people, especially in the developing countries. Current chickpea breeding programs have mainly been directed toward high yield, biotic and abiotic stress resilience that has increased global production, but less attention has been directed toward improving micronutrient concentrations in seeds. In an effort to develop micronutrient-dense chickpea lines, a study to examine the variability and to identify SNP alleles associated with seed iron and zinc concentrations was conducted using 94 diverse accessions of chickpea. The results indicated that there is substantial variability present in chickpea germplasm for seed iron and zinc concentrations. In the current set of germplasm, zinc is negatively correlated with grain yield across all locations and years; whereas the negative correlation between iron and grain yield was only significant at the Elrose locality. Eight SNP loci associated with iron and (or) zinc concentrations in chickpea seeds were identified. One SNP located on chromosome 1 (chr1) is associated with both iron and zinc concentrations. On chr4, three SNPs associated with zinc concentration and two SNPs for iron concentration were identified. Two additional SNP loci, one on chr6 and the other on chr7, were also found to be associated with iron and zinc concentrations, respectively. The results show potential opportunity for molecular breeding for improvement of seed iron and zinc concentrations in chickpea.

Effects of zinc application strategy on zinc content and productivity of chickpea grown under zinc deficient soils

“…Variation in grain Zn concentration among chickpea genotypes was previously reported (Khan et al, 2000;Kaya et al, 2009;Bueckert et al, 2011;Diapari et al, 2014;Ray et al, 2014). Responses to Zn applications were variable depending on the genotypes (Khan et al, 2000), which is not the case in our study.…”

“…Variations in Zn concentration and discrepancies in the extent of response to Zn application have been observed among chickpea genotypes (Khan et al, 2000;Bueckert et al, 2011;Diapari et al, 2014;Ray et al, 2014). For instance, Bueckert et al (2011) observed that in addition to differences in grain Zn concentration among individual genotypes, the kabulis have superior Zn concentration than the desi types.…”

Towards Zinc Biofortification in Chickpea: Performance of Chickpea Cultivars in Response to Soil Zinc Application

“…Moisture stress occurred at vegetative and pod setting stage may have reduced zinc absorption and accumulation in the seeds, as shown across locations in 2012; while relatively sufficient moisture was available in 2013, resulting in higher grain yield, but dilution of grain zinc by grain carbohydrate increments. Previously, significant environment variation in grain zinc concentration was reported [4,28]. When the soil remains wet and becomes reduced, the availability of Mn, Fe, Cu, and P usually increases, and this condition is reversed under dry soil conditions [29].…”

“…The cultivar Arerti and the two breeding lines (FLIP07-27C and FLIP08-60C) had the highest seed zinc concentration compared to the rest of the cultivars and breeding lines. Several authors reported that there are significant variations in seed zinc concentration among chickpea cultivars [4,[23][24][25]. The variation in seed zinc concentration of the current chickpea cultivars and breeding lines could be due to variation in seed physiology, morphology, and tissue zinc distribution, which all are under genetic control [26,27].…”

“…The crop plays an important role in human diet and agricultural systems [2]. Chickpea is high in protein, low in fat and sodium, cholesterol free, and is an excellent source of both soluble and insoluble fiber, complex carbohydrates, vitamins, folate, and minerals, especially calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, and magnesium [3][4][5].…”