RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COLD SEVERITY AND YIELD LOSS IN CHICKPEA (CICER-ARIETINUM L)

Seed yield in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is substantially increased by advancing sowing date from the traditional spring to early winter at low to medium elevation areas around the Mediterranean Sea. This shift, however, increases the probability of the exposure to subzero temperatures as low as -10-degrees-C for up to 60 days in a year. These low temperatures often reduce seed yield of cold-susceptible cultivars. Yield losses from cold were estimated in two experiments conducted at Tel Hadya, Syria. In experiment 1, of 96 genotypes sown on nine dates ranging from autumn to spring during the 1981-82 season, those lacking tolerance to cold were killed and produced no yield in autumn sowing, whereas lines with cold tolerance produced nearly 4 t/ha which corresponds to a four-fold increase over spring sowing. Moderately cold-tolerant genotypes sown during early winter produced substantially more seed yield than the normal spring-sown crop. Seedlings were more cold tolerant than the plants in early or late vegetative stages. In experiment 2, in which yield loss due to cold in the field was estimated in 12 yield trials comprising 288 newly bred lines in the 1989-90 season, the regression of cold susceptibility on seed yield in each of the trials was highly significant and negative. On average, winter-sown trials produced 67 % more seed yield than spring-sown trials, but 125 out of 288 genotypes produced yield more than double in winter sowing. Early maturing lines suffered severe cold damage and many lines produced no seed.