Evaluation of Grain Yield and some Biochemical Characteristics of Five Chickpea Cultivars (Cicer arietinum L.) under Drought Stress in Kermanshah Region

To study the effect of water deficit on biochemical changes in chickpea, a split-plot experiment based on complete block design with three replications was carried out at the Research Farm of Razi University in Iran. Moisture regimes with three levels, were: 1) irrigation cut off from beginning of flowering till maturity, 2) irrigation cut off from beginning of podding till maturity and 3) irrigating plants at all stages of growth (control) assigned to the main-plots and five chickpea cultivars: Arman, Azad, Bivanij, Hashem and ILC482 to the sub-plots. Based on the results, two levels of water deficit resulted in significant reduction in the chlorophylls and carotenoids concentration and significant increase in the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as: catalase, peroxidase and super oxide dismutase of leaves, in comparison with control. Therefore, there was a negative correlation between the activity of antioxidant enzymes and the amount of available water in soil, and their activity increased with increasing the severity of water stress. Seed yield was significantly affected by water deficit. In comparison of control treatment, irrigation cut off from the beginning of flowering up to maturity compared to irrigation cut off from podding up to maturity resulted in more reduction in seed yield (36 and 15% respectively). ILC482 cultivar with seed yield of 715 kg.ha-1 under irrigation cut off from the beginning of flowering up to maturity and Arman cultivar with a seed yield of 1355 kg.ha-1 under irrigation cut off from podding up to maturity produced highest grain yield. High yield cultivars under two levels of water deficit including: ILC482, Azad and Bivanij also had the highest photosynthetic pigments concentration and highest antioxidant activity in their leaves. The results also indicated a positive relationship between the antioxidant enzymes activities and photosynthetic pigment concentrations in chickpea which may help to increase growth and yield of chickpea under drought stress conditions.