Effects of Water Deficit Induced by PEG and NaCl onChickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Cultivars and Lines at Early Seedling Stages

The effects of water deficit induced by different osmotic potential levels [0 (control), -0.4, -0.6 and -0.8 MPa] of PEG 6000 and NaCl treatments on chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars and lines at germination and early growth stages by sampling on 4th and 8th days of incubation consisting of 4 days each of dark and subsequent 16 hours illumination. All of these treatments affected germination percentages of all genotypes but PEG was more effective in inhibition than NaCl at the MPa levels tested. The experimental studies showed that all of the genotypes tested could be classified as tolerant, moderately tolerant and sensitive ones. But the tolerance levels were not found to be correlated directly with MPa levels applied, as Canitez and ILC-3279 were tolerant to PEG, but ILC-3279 was sensitive to NaCl treatment. Within this context the classification can be summarized as below: PEG tolerant (Canitez and ILC-3279), moderately tolerant (AkN 87, FLIP 87-59C, GOkce and Uzunlu), sensitive (AkN 290 and ER 99). NaCl tolerant (Uzunlu and FLIP 87-59C), moderately tolerant (GOkce, Canitez, AkN 290 and AkN 87) and sensitive (ER 99 and ILC-3279). Key Words: Drought, early seedling stage, germination, NaCl, PEG, salinity, water deficit