Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the one of the most important
pulse crops in the world and its production is limited by terminal
drought. Unlike conventional breeding for yield, it is more
challenging and requires to be measured in terms of its manifestation
towards changing performance of a genotype under
stress. An evaluation of a panel developed for drought and
breeding studies has clearly identified the presence of large
variability for drought tolerance. A large number of traits have
been screened and it has been inferred that drought susceptibility
index is the best way to identify genotypes that have
resilience to terminal drought. However, different genotypes
possessed various physiological mechanisms to cope with the
effects of drought and, hence, provide ample opportunities to
breeders to combine them to develop drought-tolerant genotypes.
The chickpea genotypes L550, PG112 and ICC92944
have shown higher mean values for yield traits under stress
and have desirable terminal drought-tolerant mechanisms for
yield and other associated characters such as lower DSI, higher
HI, higher BY and higher grain yield. They have, thus, emerged
as stable genotypes for yield under stress situations. Though
MABC for root traits has been identified, rapid screening techniques
using CTD and identification of markers for MSI and
RWC to be used for screening segregating generations appears
to be promising in north Indian conditions. This is because unlike
in south India, drought in the north India develops abruptly
after a cold period, giving little time for the root system to
respond. Thus, breeding for terminal drought tolerance would
require concentrating on these traits too
