Evaluation and comparison of drought tolerance indices inDesi chickpea genotypes using multivariate analysis methods

In order to evaluate drought tolerance of chickpea genotypes and identifying the best indices of drought tolerance، The 20 genotypes Desi chickpea plus two improved cultivars (KAKA and PIROZ) were tested using a randomized complete block design under two irrigated (non stress) and (stress) conditions. Quantitive drought tolerance and susceptibility indices such as Stress Tolerance Index (STI)، Stress Susceptibility Index (SSI)، Mean Productivity (MP)، Harmonic Mean (HM)، Tolerance Index (TOL) and Geometric Mean Productivity (GMP) based on yield in stress and non stress conditions were calculated. There were significant variations among the genotypes in their reaction to drought tolerance. There were positive and highly significant correlations among GMP and STI with yield in stress and non stress conditions. Also، there were positive and hight significant correlations for TOL and SSI with yield in stress. The correlation between seed yield، in stressed and non-stress conditions، and drought tolerance indices indicated that STI and GMP were the more suitable indices for screening of Desi Chickpea genotypes for drought tolerance. Comparison of three dimension plot and bi-plot showed that in stress condition، genotypesKC-218625،KC-217667 andKC-218553 were more tolerate genotypes.