Physiological and Yield Performance of Chickpea Genotypes under Drought Stress

Ten high yielding chickpea genotypes were evaluated for yield performance under drought stress (rainfed) and non-stress (irrigated) conditions revealed the existence of considerable genetic variability in experimental materials. The magnitude of phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was higher than genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for most of the characters. Relative water content (RWC) at pod development had high direct effect on seed yield under drought stress and non-stress conditions, while, direct effect of water saturation deficit (WSD) at pod development, showed negative impact on seed yield. Genotype IG 370 showed earliness in flowering and maturity under both drought stress and non-stress conditions and gave better yield (1674 kg/ha) with better drought tolerance efficiency as compared to late maturing genotypes (IG 226, KAK 2 and IG 592). Other genotypes namely, Vishal, IG 592, JG 412 and Ujjain 21 exhibited comparatively lower reduction in yield due to drought stress and high drought tolerance efficiency.