Early flowering, short internode length, and double podding as components of early maturity in chickpea

Non-Peer ReviewedLate maturity, resulting from the indeterminate nature of the crop, is a critical production constraint in chickpea (Kumar and Abbo, 2001). In western Canada, the chickpea crop is often killed by fall frost while seeds/pods are yet filling, which reduces both the quantity and quality of economic yield (grain). It was hypothesized that incorporating early flowering, short internode length and double podding traits may shorten the overall duration of growth in chickpea. Early flowering would advance onset of reproduction, while the latter two traits hasten the rate of pod formation and then progress towards maturity. Hence, a study was initiated to determine the effect of these key traits on time (days) to maturity in chickpea