The physiological effects of different irrigation times on chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivars

In this study, the physiologic effects of different irrigation times [I-1 No irrigation (control), I-2 sowing time irrigation, I-3 sowing time + flowering time irrigation and I-4 sowing time + flowering time + pod formation time irrigation] on four chickpea cultivars (Akein, Gokce, Isik and Yasa) were investigated. The experimental design was split plot with three replicates. Irrigation time was located into the main plots and chickpea cultivars into subplots. The effect of irrigation time on ion leakage, leaf relative water content (RWC), loss of turgidity and total chlorophyll content in leaf tissues of the chickpea cultivars was determined. For this purpose, fully expanded, uniformly sized leaves from field plants of the cultivars were collected in before flowering (in June) and pod formation (in July) periods. Ion leakage values of the leaf tissues decreased by irrigation treatments before flowering period, while this value increased by irrigation treatments during pod formation period. Leaf RWC and loss of turgidity did not change by irrigation treatments before flowering period, while leaf RWC decreased and loss of turgidity increased in pod formation period. Besides that, the irrigation treatments caused a decrease in chlorophyll content before flowering period when it caused an increase in chlorophyll content in pod formation period. Considering the cultivars, Yap had the highest ion leakage values among the four cultivars investigated. On the other hand, Isik had the lowest ion leakage values among the four cultivars tested in both sampling periods. Isik also had the highest leaf RWC and lowest loss of turgidity in both sampling periods. Total chlorophyll content did not change in all cultivars. Moreover, correlation analysis was done between investigated parameters.