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Association panels represent a useful tool for quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping and pre-breeding. In this study, we report on the development of a European and Mediterranean chickpea association panel as a useful tool for gene discovery and breeding. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the most important food legumes worldwide and a key crop in the Mediterranean environments. The selection of genotypes followed criteria aimed to build a set of materials representative of the genetic diversity of chickpea germplasm focusing on the European and Mediterranean environments, which have largely been ignored to date. This tool can help breeders to develop novel varieties adapted to European and Mediterranean agro-ecosystems. Initially, 1931 chickpea accessions were phenotypically evaluated in a field trial in central Italy. From these, an association panel composed by 480 genotypes derived from single-seed descent was identified and phenotypically evaluated. Current and future phenotypic data combined with the genotypic characterization of the association panel will allow to dissect the genetic architecture of important adaptive and quality traits and accelerate breeding. This information can be used to predict phenotypes of unexploited chickpea genetic resources available in genebanks for breeding.

Population genomics integrates advances in sequencing technologies, bioinformatics tools, statistical methods and software into research on evolutionary and population genetics. Its application has provided novel approaches that have significantly advanced our understanding of new and long-standing questions in evolutionary processes. This has allowed the disentangling of locus-specific effects from genome-wide effects and has shed light on the genomic basis of fitness, local adaptation and phenotypes. “-Omics” tools have provided a comprehensive genome-wide view of the action of evolution. The specific features of the Phaseolus genus have made it a unique example for the study of crop evolution. The well-documented history of multiple domestications in Phaseolus vulgaris L. (common bean) and its further adaptation to different environments have provided the opportunity to investigate evolutionary issues, such as convergent evolution in the same species across different domestication events. Moreover, the availability of the P. vulgaris reference genome now allows adaptive variations to be easily mapped across the entire genome. Here, we provide an overview of the most significant outcomes obtained in common bean through the use of different computational tools for analysis of population genomics data.