Physiological studies on temperature tolerance in chickpea (Cicer Arietinum L.) genotypes

Chickpea planting is usually delayed in north-western parts of India due to popularization of rice-wheat cropping system. In the present study, efforts were made to study the impact of different planting dates on the physiological traits, viz. relative water content (RWC), percent membrane injury, chlorophyll content, dry matter production and seed yield on six chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes. The results indicated that medium planting (30^th Nov.) resulted in decreased membrane injury and increased chlorophyll content, relative water content, biological yield and seed yield of the genotypes as compared to early (15^th Nov.) and late (15^th Dec.) plantings. Further significant and clear-cut differences were noted among advance lines and released genotypes. Genotype DG36 showed superiority over other genotypes. It is emphasized that such traits may play an important role in selection of plants for temperature tolerance in breeding programme.