Chickpea is a cool season pulse and suffers severe yield losses when exposed to higher temperatures during reproductive phase. Stable chickpea production will depend on the release of new cultivars with improved adaptation to drought and high temperature. Twenty five breeding lines of two crosses JG 11 x JG 14 and JAKI 9218 x JG 14 were assessed under timely and late sown situations. High variability was observed for majority of the traits in both the seasons. In late sown condition high GCV and PCV was recorded for days to fifty per cent podding, number of pods, yield per plant, hundred seed weight, pollen viability and per cent membrane leakage at 50 days. Ample variability available for these traits can be exploited by direct selection. In general the late sown crop matured early due to restricted reproductive period and hastened maturity. Higher heritability for days to first and fifty per cent podding, days to maturity, pollen viability and hundred seed weight was noticed under late sown environments. Higher estimates of GCV (%), heritability and genetic advance as per cent of mean were noticed for plant height (cm), first pod height (cm), number of pods per plant, yield per plant (g/plant) and hundred seed weight (g). Occurrence of high estimates of heritability coupled with genetic advance as per cent of mean for these traits suggest that these traits can be considered as favourable attributes for improvement through selection. Number of pods per plant was positively and significantly associated with number of branches per plant (), plant height () and first pod height () signifying that early maturing genotypes with better canopy spread are capable of escaping heat stress under late sown environment. | Genetic variability and correlation studies in chickpea under timely and late sown environments
