Chickpea Evaluation for Cold Tolerance under Field Conditions

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) yields are higher when plantings are made in early winter in the Mediterranean region instead of during the traditional spring season, but winter killing is often a problem. Cold tolerant chickpea cultivars are needed to successfully utilize a winter sowing approach. A study was conducted at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Tel Hadya, Syria during 1982 to 1983 with the objective of developing a field screening technique for cold tolerance in chickpea, and to identify sources of tolerance. A set of previously identified tolerant, intermediate, and susceptible lines was sown from mid-fall to early spring. All susceptible lines sown during October were killed from cold injury, showing that the crop was more susceptible at the late vegetative stage than at the seedling stage. Consequently, a field screening technique was proposed, with an October sowing date to allow the crop to grow to the late vegetative stage before the onset of severe winter. Susceptible checks are grown at frequent intervals and evaluation takes place after the death of the susceptible check. This is followed by confirmation of tolerance. A 1 to 9 visual score was used to evaluate germplasm for cold tolerance. A total of 3276 germplasm accessions and breeding lines were evaluated from 1981 to 1987. Twenty-one lines were identified as tolerant. Cold tolerance was not associated with the phenotypic traits of leaflet area, seed size, time to maturity, plant height, or growth habi