Screening of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Germplasms Under Salt Stress

Abstract

Soil salinity, among other abiotic stresses, is now identified as a significant crop loss factor for chickpea (8-10%). In the current experiment, the response of twenty chickpea accessions were studied under various NaCl solutions in growth chambers and under pot culture in greenhouse conditions in the growing season of 2020. These tests were done in order to categorise the chickpea accessions into distinct salt-tolerant groups and to identify relevant agro-morphological indicators of salinity tolerance. The findings showed that salinity has a considerable negative impact on chickpea growth during its early stages, and that there is a statistically significant correlation between salinity and accessions for yield characteristics under various salinity stress levels. In comparison to other accessions, salt-tolerant accessions were less impacted by excessive salinity and may produce a higher seed output. Accessions were grouped into three categories viz., highly tolerant, moderately susceptible, and highly susceptible based on the percentage loss of seed yield compared to control under 300 mM saline stress. After taking into account all of the measured parameters, Digbijoy was determined to be the best tolerant line. According to correlation and regression analysis, salinity had the least impact on germination despite severely fracturing the pod and seed yield. In the future breeding program, these desirable parameters might be used as salinity indicators and also introduced into the susceptible lines, while the tolerant accessions might be used as tolerant checks.