Drought stress effects on photosynthesis, chlorophyll fluorescence and photosynthetic pigments in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes

In order to evaluate of physiological traits، related to drought tolerance، an experiment was carried out in controlled condition. The experiment was conducted to assess the effect of drought stress on photosynthesis، chlorophyll fluorescence and photosynthetic pigments in two tolerant genotypes (MCC392 & MCC877) and two susceptible genotypes (MCC68 & MCC448) were grown in drought stress (25% field capacity) and control (field capacity) conditions in the seedling، early flowering and podding stages and so evaluated base on factorial experiment based on completely randomized design with four replications. Drought stress significantly decreased CO2 assimilation rate (A)، transpiration rate (E)، and PSΙΙ photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) in all genotypes. Drought stress increased chl b in all investigated stages. In all investigated stages، water use efficiency (WUE)، A and Fv/Fm were higher in tolerant genotypes than that of susceptible genotypes under drought stress. Our results indicated that water use efficiency، A and Fv/Fm could be useful markers in the studies of tolerance to drought stress and screening of adapted cultivars of chickpea under drought stress.