Dry matter accumulation and compatile metabolites prouduction of six chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes under different soil moisture

Drought stress is the second important constraint of yield in chickpea after disease. In order to study the effects of drought on total dry weight، seed yield، chlorophyll content، relative water content and amount of proline and soluble sugars accumulation of 6 Kabuli chickpea genotypes including Arman، Jam، Hasham، Flip93-93 (Azad)، ILC482 and ILC1799، a experiment was conducted during the 2007 at experimental greenhouse of the agricultural faculty of Bu-Ali Sina University. The experiment was established using a factorial completely randomized design with three irrigation levels (100، 50 and 25% available water). Assessment of the results indicated that total dry weight، seed yield، chlorophyll content and relative water content were significantly decreased by reduction in available water from 100 to 50 and 25%. The detrimental effects of reduction in soil available water on chlorophyll a content was more than chlorophyll b. Reduction in available water from 100 to 50 and 25% decreased chlorophyll a content 31 and 43 percent، while the reduction of chlorophyll b content in that range was 16 and 38 percent، respectively. Water deficit stress caused an increase of proline and total soluble carbohydrates contents، so that their concentrations at 25% AW increased to 32 and 2 times، respectively. Proline accumulation was mainly different from changes in soluble sugars concentration، total dry weight and relative water content.