Evaluation of Drought Tolerance in Kabuli Type Chickpea Genotypes

To identify drought tolerant genotypes, 62 kabuli type chickpea genotypes with two control cultivars (Jam and Korosh) were evaluated in a simple lattice design (8×8) under two conditions (stress and non-stress) in the research field of Agricultural College of Tehran University in 2010. MP, GMP, HARM and STI indices were used as drought tolerance indices for screening tolerant genotypes. Based on the results of principal components analysis, the first component which explained 65.84 percent of data variations (as a component of potential and sustainability yield and drought tolerance), and the second component which explained 33.59 percent variations of the data (as a component of sensitivity to stress), genotypes no. 2, 120, 139, 357, 356, 239 and two control cultivars Jam and Korosh were recognized as tolerant genotypes with high yield, and genotypes no. 236, 323, 306, 525 and 318 as drought-sensitive genotypes. Cluster analysis based on MP, GMP, HARM, STI and DRI indices and yield under stress and non-stress conditions classified genotypes into four clusters that most of the drought tolerant genotypes were located in the first cluster and most of the drought-sensitive genotypes with the largest distance were located in the fourth cluster.