Effect of higher temperature (5±2°C above ambient) on some physiological parameters under moisture stress and non-stress conditions was studied in five chickpea genotypes grown in loamy sand deep soils. There was significant negative correlation between stress grain yield and membrane injury at 50% flowering (r= −0.5269), 20 days after flowering (DAF) (r= − 0.6890), 40DAF (r= −0.8698) and specific leaf area (SLA) (r= − 0.4829) at the podding stage. The genotype RSG 143-1 yielded 18.3q/ha having minimum membrane injury at the above stages and SLA. This genotype also had low flower drop, higher number of filled pods, late senescence and higher harvest index under the stress. Its tolerance to thermal and moisture stress was shown by the lowest thermal (0.19) and drought (0.57) susceptibility indices. It is suggested that better membrane stability and low SLA may help a genotype in maintaining more filled pods and higher grain yield under the stress conditions.
Chickpea, membrane injury, moisture stress, specific leaf area, thermal stress
