Drought and heat tolerance in chickpea

Chickpea is largely grown rainfed on residual soil moisture after the rainy season. Terminal drought is a major constraint to chickpea production, particularly in the semi-arid tropics. Similarly, exposure of chickpea to heat stress (≥ 35 C) at flowering and podding is known to result in drastic reductions in seed yields. Efforts have been made to develop cultivars that can escape (early maturity) or avoid/tolerate (greater extraction of water from the soil, enhanced water use efficiency) terminal drought. Large genetic variations exist for reproductive stage heat tolerance in chickpea. Many heat tolerant genotypes have been identified through screening of germplasm/breeding lines under heat stress conditions in the field. A heat tolerant breeding line ICCV 92944 has been released for cultivation in Myanmar (as Yezin 6) and India (as JG 14).