Effects of Water Stress and Pod Position on the Seed Quality of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Cultivars

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out in 2008 to evaluate the effects of different irrigation treatments (I1, I2 and I3: irrigation after 70, 120 and 170 mm evaporation from class A pan, respectively), and pod positions (upper, lower and middle parts of canopy) on the seed quality of four chickpea cultivars (Jam, Hashem, Arman and ILC from Kabuli type). Seed quality as determined by electrical conductivity of seed leachates, germination percentage, germination rate and seedling dry weight were not significantly affected by water stress, but mean seed weight decreased with increasing irrigation intervals. The largest seeds with the highest quality were obtained from the lower parts of canopy. No significant interaction of irrigation versus seed position indicated that seeds of lower position had high quality under both adequate and limited irrigations. ILC had larger and more vigorous seeds compared to other cultivars. Mean seed weight, germination percentage, germination rate and seedling dry weight had positive and significant correlation with each other. It was concluded that sorting chickpea seeds for large and uniform size after harvest could be a practical way of improving seed lot quality.