The genetic diversity and population structure in 51 chickpea accessions were studied using 30 chickpea specific SSR markers. Twenty eight SSR markers exhibited polymorphism producing a total of 217 alleles. The average number of alleles per locus was . The average PIC value was and ranged from a minimum of (TA1) to a maximum of (TA64). The markers TA5, TA14, TA18, TA21, TA64, TA71, TA106, TR20, TR26, TR58, TS43 were considered to be highly informative (PIC ≥ ), in evaluating allelic variation present in the chickpea accessions. Genetic diversity analysis resulted in the formation of two major clusters, using WARD’s method of hierarchical clustering based on the dissimilarity index values. | Molecular genetic diversity and population structure analysis in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) germplasm using SSR markers
