Affiliation(s)
1. Department of Crops, Horticulture & Soils, Egerton University, P.O. Box 536-20115 Egerton, Kenya
2. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT), P. O. Box 39063-00623 Nairobi, Kenya
3. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502324 Telangana, India
ABSTRACT
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important cool
season food legumes with indeterminate growth habit. The crop is valued for its
nutritive seeds and used as animal feed in many
developing countries. The productivity of the crop is constrained by several abiotic
stresses, among which drought stress is one of the key determinants of crop performance
aaccounting for 40-50%
yield reduction globally. The present study was conducted to screen, evaluate and select chickpea genotypes
possessing high yield potential under drought stress condition at ASALs (arid and semi-arid
lands) of Kenya. The experiment was conducted
at Chemeron dry land and Eco-tourism
Research station, Egerton University and Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research
Institute (KALRO), Pekerra, Marigat, Baringo
County. The genotypes were planted in RCBD (randomized
complete block design) in three replicates at a spacing of 30 cm × 10 cm, giving a plant density
of approximately 25 plants/m2. Combined analysis of variance
revealed existence of highly significant differences among the tested genotypes
for most of the agronomic traits. Overall, the highest grain yield was obtained from ICCV 92944
(1,173 kg/ha), ICCV 92318 (1,103 kg/ha) and CAVIR (975
kg/ha), ICCV 92318 (967 kg/ha), ICCV 00108 (956 kg/ha) and ICC 4958 (921 kg/ha): possibly due to its comparatively
higher drought (and heat) tolerance, and hence could be used as sources of drought
tolerance in further breeding programs. This study was carried out in few drought
tolerant sites and further more sites need to be evaluated in addition to other
drought and heat screening and optimization of protocols, facilities and analytical
approaches to identify better genotypes that respond appropriately to climate change.
KEYWORDS
Chickpea, genotypes, drought
stress, yield performance and
tolerance.
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