Yield response of white chickpea genotypes to terminal drought

Abstract

At the global level, chickpea is mainly planted in residual moisture conditions, with low availability of soil moisture at the end of the crop cycle. In the autumn-winter cycle of 2014-15, 12 Kabuli chickpea genotypes were evaluated under irrigation and drought conditions, aiming to classify them according to its response to terminal drought, and to identify those with high yield efficiency in both humidity conditions. Two trials were established in the Costa de Hermosillo, Sonora, México, one under irrigation during the whole cycle and another with irrigation suspension from the flowering beginning. The 12 genotypes included eight varieties and four elite lines and were established in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The days to maturity, number of seeds per pod, weight of 100 seeds, plant height and grain yield were quantified. As efficiency estimators, the drought susceptibility index (ISS), geometric mean (MG) and relative yield efficiency index (IER) were used. The yield decrease due to drought was 81.8%. With ISS values of <0.72, the Sierra and Troy varieties in addition to the Hoga 067 line were the most tolerant to drought, while the Blanco Sinaloa 92 and Blanco Magdalena 95 varieties, in addition to the Cuga 08-743 line were the most susceptible with ISS> 0.89. Blanoro, Tequi Blanco 98 and Hoga 067 obtained the highest MGs with 647.9, 694.5 and 775.7 kg ha^-1, while Hoga 067 showed the highest IER with 2.15. The yield indexes used identified genotypes with high yields in the two moisture conditions, while the ISS identified those with the lowest yield reduction due to drought.