Evaluation of the reaction of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes to drought conditions using various stress tolerance indices

A field study was undertaken during 2009 and 2010 in randomized block design (RBD) with three replications to evaluate newly developed chickpea genotypes under water application and rain-fed management system for mean value and various genetic parameters such as heritability, genetic advance, phenotypic (PCV), genotypic (GCV) coefficient of variation and correlation. Attempt to measure the degree of tolerance with a single parameter have limited value because of the multiplicity of the factors and their interactive contributing to drought tolerance under field conditions that's why we used different stress indices viz., drought susceptibility index (DSI) dry matter index, plant height, yield stability index relative water content (RWC) and membrane stability index (MSI) were worked out in twenty two chickpea genotype for nine traits under both conditions. Highly significant differences were observed between genotypes and between two management practices for all the traits. The values of studied traits significantly decreased in non-irrigated experiment compared to irrigated one. On the contrary, the number of seeds per pod and 100-seed weight remained unaffected due to irrigation. The genotype, DG-115 with grain yield of 41.3 g per plant was better under irrigation while, DG-119 with grain yield of 11.8 g per plant performed better under rain-fed planting and the genotypes, DG-119, DG-116, DG-118 and DG-114 were found drought tolerant based on different drought indices parameters.