Natural outcrossing in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

The rate of natural outcrossing in the cultivated chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) was estimated with five lines grown over three planting dates in the 1988-1989 season, and four other lines grown in one planting date in 1989, and over two planting dates in 1991. At each planting date, a randomized complete block design with six replications was employed. The location of the study was at the University of California, South Coast Research and Extension Center, Irvine, CA, where high outcrossing rates have been previously observed in different genotypes of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Compound leaf, controlled by a single dominant gene (Silv/silv), was used as a morphological marker. Unifoliate genotypes were used as female parents and were interplanted in the middle row of every plot with genotypes with compound leaves designated as male parents. Although many bumble bees (Bombus spp.) and honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) visited open chickpea flowers, progeny tests revealed that the average rate of natural outcrossing in the lines under investigation was less than 1%.