Investigation of growth analysis in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars under drought stress

Abstract

A field experiment performed in order to evaluate the effects of drought stress on growth indices of chickpea cultivars. This experiment was performed in factorial using randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments were drought stress treatment in in three levels consisting of no drought stress (control), moderate drought stress (irrigation at planting and early flowering) and severe drought stress (no irrigation) and cultivar treatment (three cultivars Azad, Grit and ILC482). Results showed that LAI, CGR, RGR and NAR reduced with increased in drought stress level. Also, LAR decreased after short time increasing. Non stress condition caused to improve growth stages and increase accumulation of dry matter and yield in chickpea. Maximum LAI, LAR and CGR obtaind at 56 days after sowing under non irrigation condition, but under complete irrigation they were observed at 77 days after sowing. RGR and NAR reduced with increasing the age of the plant. Thus we concluded that drought stress decreased growth of chickpea and final yield of it.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijls.v9i5.12705