Correlation Analysis of Seed Yield and Its Components in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum l.) Genotypes Usman Saeed, Qurban Ali*, Muhammad Tahir Naveed and Muhammad Saleem Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. Corresponding author: saim_1692@yahoo.com, saeedgenics@yahoo.com Rec.Date: Jun 15, 2012 03:49 Accept Date: Jul 06, 2012 23:07 Abstract The present study was conducted to the estimation of correlation analysis for quantitative traits in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in the field of the department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan during the crop season 2008-2009. Correlation studies showed that biomass per plant, number of pods per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, number of seeds per pod and 100-seed weight were positive and significant at genotypic level but positive and highly significant at phenotypic level. Whereas, days taken to flowering, days taken to maturity, primary branches per plant and secondary branches per plant were positively correlated with the grain yield per plant at genotypic and phenotypic levels. Plant height was negative and non-significantly correlated with grain yield per plant at both genotypic and phenotypic levels. Key Words: Chickpea, Cicer arietinum, genotypic, phenotypic, correlation Introduction Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important grain legume in Pakistan and plays a dominant role in the agriculture of rainfed areas of the country. It is third most important pulse crop after dry bean and pea. Pakistan ranks second to India in terms of acreage under chickpea which is 1094 thousand hectares with an annual production of 760 thousand tones and an average yield of 720 kg ha -1 7, 8 . It is rich and readily available source of protein both for human and animals. The average yield of chickpea in Pakistan is low compared to other chickpea growing countries. This may be attributed to the lack of high yielding varieties, resistant to diseases and pests, high response to high inputs and other management practices. Keeping in view these problems, it is of Saeed et al., IJAVMS, Vol. 6, Issue 4, 2012: 269-276 doi: 10.5455/ijavms.152 RESEARCH ARTICLE