Response of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Advanced Lines to No Snow Cover Cold in Fall Planting

To study cold tolerance (CT) of thirteen chickpea advanced lines together with Jam cultivar as check and relationship between CT and agronomic traits, two experiments were conducted under controlled and field conditions during 2010-2011 cropping season at Maragheh Dryland Agricultural Research Station. The first experiment was conducted under natural condition (fall sowing at field), using randomized complete block design with four replications. In the second experiment, seeds of genotypes were planted in concrete boxes with one meter height from soil level, using nylon covers to prevent snow fall on planting beds during winter. Percentage of genotypes cold injeries was assessed in early spring after ending of cold. Under field condition, there were significant differences among genotypes for all studied traits. There were also significant differences among genotypes for no snow cover cold (Base cold: BC) tolerance in concrete boxes. Line
FLIP 00-84C with 87% of survived plants under field condition and 23% of BC (-20ºC for two days) damage, was the most tolerant line. There was negative and significant correlation (r = -0.56) between CT under controlled condition and number of survived plants after winter in field condition. There were also significant positive correlation between BC damage and percentage of cold damage of plants after the first and second severe colds (r = 0.56 and r = 0.50, respectively). In conclusion, there was a conformity between results obtained from controlled and field conditions, therefore box planting method could be recommended as a new and reliable method for evaluating cold tolerance in chickpea germplasm