Responses of twenty chickpea genotypes to drought stress were evaluated in the farm of College of Agricultutre, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran in 2006-2007. The experiment was carried out in randomized complete block design with three replications under two water stress and non-stress conditions. The results showed significant differences among the genotypes for most of the traits. Maximum yield in stress and non-stress conditions belonged to genotype X96TH41K4. Coefficient of variation resulted from drought stress revealed that most of the damage resulted from drought stress related to seed yield which showed 62.46% reduction compared to nonstress condition. Drought stress exhibited positive effects on unfilled pod percentage, cell membrane stability, SPAD, chlorophyll and proline content. The Stepwise regression analysis in non-stress condition showed that the most effective factors on the yield were days to maturity, relative water content, relative water loss and unfilled pod percentage which justified 51% of seed yield variation, while in stress condition, relative water loss, number of pod per plant and cell membrane stability justified 52% of seed yield variation. Positive significant correlation was observed between mean yield and most of the trails. Cluster analysis classified the genotypes into four different groups so that the genotype X96TH41K4 as the most tolerant genotype was discriminated in a separate group.
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