Evaluation of Ethiopian chickpea landraces for tolerance to drought

Ethiopia is a secondary center of diversity for chickpea. It is possible that these germplasm lines have developed certain degrees of adaptation to drought during many centuries of cultivation on residual soil moisture. We, therefore, evaluated 482 genotypes of chickpea collected from different regions of Ethiopia for their tolerance to drought at Alem Tena, a drought-prone site. Differences were observed among genotypes in their reactions to drought and 18 tolerant genotypes were identified based on drought response index (DRI). These were in the top 10% yielding genotypes under drought stress. The drought susceptible check 'Mariye' gave grain yields of only 348 kg/ha. Two of the drought tolerant genotypes 'ACC 41235' and 'ACC 209025' were further evaluated in pots along with 'Mariye' under stressed and nonstressed moisture regimes. Unlike 'Mariye' the two test genotypes had relatively smaller individual leaf area, which was further reduced under low moisture stress treatment. On the other hand, dry root weight, root volume and rooting depth decreased significantly under low moisture stress only for 'Mariye'. It appears that reduced water loss from the plant and extensive extraction of soil moisture are factors involved in the adaptation of Ethiopian chickpeas to drought conditions. The combined effect of the two factors enables the plant to maintain high water status.