Inheritance of flower color in chickpea

Flower color is a useful morphological marker in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Inheritance of this trait was studied using two white-flowered chickpe a genotypes, P 9623 and RS 11, and one blue-flowered genotype, T 39-1. The genetic constitutions of the white flower colors of P 9623 and RS 11 were d ifferent, for in an earlier study their F-1 produced pink flowers. The two F(1)s of the crosses P 9623 X T 39-1 and RS 11 X T 39-1 also produced pink flowers. Each of the two F-2 populations segregated in 9 pink:3 blue:4 whil e-flowered plants. These results can be explained by a three-gene model. Th ese three independently segregating genes are probably the same as C, B, an d P reported in the literature earlier. Allelic tests could not be undertak en, as the genetic stocks used in the earlier studies are not available. Th e genetic constitutions of the three parents and their F(1)s are proposed. These accessions should be useful for conducting allelic tests for determin ing flower color loci in chickpea and for comparative studies with field pe a. The seeds of these genetic stocks are maintained at the Genetic Resource s and Enhancement Program at ICRISAT and are available for research purpose s on request.