Genotype—environment interactions for protein content in chickpea

Abstract

Winter sowing of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L) has been intoduced in the Mediterranean region with the prospect of increasing seed yield by 50–100% over spring sowing. Since the influence of season on protein content is not known, this study was conducted to determine it. Another objective was to determine the genotype–environment interactions for protein content. Five sets of trials, comprising 20–24 entries each, were conducted at three locations and during two seasons. The estimates of variance components involving first‐order interactions [genotype (G) × location (L), genotype × season (S)] were small, indicating that the contribution of L and S in the genotypic expression of protein content was generally small. The mean squares due to the genotype × environment (linear) portion of interaction were non‐significant, showing that there were no differences in the linear expression of G. Furthermore, the present study demonstrated that the overall difference in protein content in the seeds of two seasons was only 0·11%, indicating that the protein content in seed was little affected by sowing date.