Morphological and physiological traits associated with seed yield in different chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes under irrigated andwater‐deficit environments

Abstract

The morpho

â€physiological traits associated with seed yield in chickpea (Cicer

arietinum

L.) were evaluated on thirty five chickpea genotypes under two

different water regimes. In optimum condition, the highest correlation was

belonged to number of seeds/plant and number of pods/plant (0.944**) and

in water deficit condition, the strongest correlation of seed yield was observed

with number of seeds/plant (0.875**), number of pods/plant

(0.789**) and 100

â€seed weight (0.438**). Physiological traits (RWC, Chlorophyll

and Carotenoid) indicated low and positive correlation with yield, but

high positive correlation with other seeds yields related traits in optimum

condition while, under water deficit condition, chlorophyll content and RWC

had low and non

â€significant negative correlation with seeds yield. Carotenoid,

number of seeds/plant and 100

â€seed weight showed more direct positive

effect on yield in optimum environment and in stress condition, number

of seeds/ plant and 100

â€seed weight showed highest direct effect on seed

yield. Results of factor analysis showed that four factors explained 88.54%

and 34.5% of the total variance caused in the characters in optimum and

water deficit environment, respectively. In general, the results suggested

that a chickpea cultivar, for increased yield under non

â€stress conditions,

should have maximum number of seeds and pods per plant and under stress

conditions should have maximum number of seeds and pods per plant and

also keep the high level of RWC and chlorophyll content in their leaves. Thus,

identifying these traits as selection criteria in chickpea breeding program

may be useful for breeders to introduce suitable drought resistant chickpea

cultivars for arid regions.