Traits of relevance to improve yield under terminal drought stress in chickpea (C. arietinum L.)

In chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), terminal drought is a major constraint that limits seed yield. It is important to establish the relative importance many of these drought-related traits for prioritizing their consideration in breeding for drought tolerance improvements. By associating various traits with the drought response index (DRI), a good indicator devoid of the confounding effects of drought escape and yield potential, well associated traits to grain yield under drought were investigated. Twenty-one genotypes with known diversity in drought response were used. Genotype ICC 7571 was identified newly as a consistent and highly drought tolerant chickpea germplasm. The DRI showed significant positive association with crop growth rate (CGR) and negative association with water use efficiency (WUE) in both the years. The DRI also showed a positive association with the pod quantity per unit area irrespective of the drought intensity. The harvest index and the rate of partitioning (p) showed a close positive association with DRI under severe drought stress. The relationship of p, as an associated trait with yield, intensified further under severe drought. This adaptive expression suggests that p to be considered as a critical trait while breeding for drought tolerance.