Response of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes under field condition to high temperature

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a cool-season food legume and suffers heavy yield losses when exposed to heat stress at the reproductive (flowering and podding) stage. Heat stress is increasingly becoming a severe constraint to chickpea production due to the changing scenario of chickpea cultivation and expected overall increase in global temperatures due to climate change. High temperature (>30⁰ C) regulates floral initiation and grain yield in chickpea. Chickpea production mostly occurs on residual soil moisture under rainfed conditions and terminal drought and heat stresses are the major limitations to chickpea grain yield. The 27 genotypes were evaluated in a Randomized Block Design with three replications for two sowing dates. Observations recorded for Days to 50% flowering, Days to maturity, Plant height (cm), Primary branches per plant (No.), Secondary branches per plant (No.), Pods per plant (No.), 100 seed weight (g), Seeds per plant (No.), Seed yield per plant (g), Proline content (µmol/g FW). Glycine betaine content (µmol/g FW), Malondialdehyde content (nmol/g FW). On basis of mean productivity index and biochemical parameters, genotypes Phule G 1511-29-1 and RVG-202 were heat tolerant.