Studies on Leaf Characteristics of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and Their Contribution to Seed Yield under Different Temperature Stress in North West India

Background: Temperature stress (heat or cold) is becoming a major area of concern due to climate change affecting crop production worldwide. Chickpea leaves are most sensitive to variation in temperature so any variation in temperature (High or Low) causes substantial losses in yield due to disruption in physiological processes of the plant cell. Therefore to achieve maximum production under current scenario of climate change a better understanding of stress induced responses in leaves of chickpea and interrelationship between seed yield and leaf traits can prove to be useful. Methods: The field trials was conducted with ten genotypes of chickpea for two consecutive years (2017-2019) at Pulses Section, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar to study various traits of leaf at 50% flowering stage (80-90 DAS). Temperature stress (cold or heat) was given by manipulating the sowing dates that is 15th October (early sown condition in Haryana), 15th November (Normal sown condition in Haryana) and 15th December (late sown condition in Haryana). Data were recorded when temperature was ( less than 5°C for 7 days) in early sown and ( greater than 35°C for 7 days) in late sown crops. Result: Results indicated that early sown crops experienced low temperature stress in the month of December-January while late sown crops showed high temperature stress in the month of March- April. The maximum values of leaf parameters were found in crops sown on 15th Novemberand minimum in15th December sown crops and no significant differences in seed yield was recorded between 15th October and 15th November sowing, however, further delay in sowing to 15th December showed significant reduction in seed yield. Among genotypes maximum leaf parameters and seed yield were observed in H12-64 and H13-01 while minimum were found in H14-04. Seed yield exhibited significant positive correlation with all traits in 15th October and 15th November sowing while non-significant was on 15th December sowing.