Tolerance to freezing stress in Cicer accessions under controlled and field conditions

Freezing tolerance was determined in 5 annual wild Cicer and 225 Cicer arietinum L. accessions, grown both in field and controlled conditions. In controlled conditions, the temperature was decreased 5°C daily to achieve -20°C. Field trial was conducted at Urmia, Iran. In general, 'kabuli' chickpeas were more susceptible to freezing stress than 'desi' chickpeas. Some 'kabuli' types such as FLIP 93-261C and x03TH21 which presented high freezing tolerance during early seedling stage, withstood -15.6°Cwithout snow cover. Based on severity score data, the highest freezing tolerance sources were all accessions of Cicer echinospermum and Cicer reticulatum and 15 lines from C. arietinum germplasm. The results obtained in controlled conditions were approximately confirmed in the field conditions. The most resistant genotypes to freezing stress were wild accessions of ILWC 81, ILWC 106, ILWC 139, ILWC 181, ILWC 235, and cultivated lines, Sel 96 TH 11404, Sel 96 TH 11439, Sel 96 TH 11488, Sel 98 TH 11518, x03TH21 and FLIP 93-261C. Our results indicated the possibility of autumn sowing of chickpea in the high plateaus of Iran