Growth and antioxidant system under drought stress in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) as sustained by salicylic acid

Drought is one of the major factors limiting chickpea production in arid and semi arid regions. There is meagre information available regarding genotypic variation for drought tolerance in chickpea genotypes. Present investigation was carried out to find out the influence of salicylic acid (SA) on drought tolerance in four chickpea genotypes. Reduction in relative injury was observed in plants treated with SA @1.5 mM as compared to control seedlings. Relationship between relative water content (RWC), membrane permeability (MP), ascorbic acid (AsA), proline, lipid peroxidation (LPO), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) was determined in order to find out whether these parameters can be used as selection criteria for drought tolerance in this crop. Results indicate wide variation in tolerance to drought stress amongst chickpea cultivars at both the critical stages i.e. pre- and post-anthesis. On the basis of growth and antioxidant activity better genotypes Tyson and ICC-4958 appear to be adapted to drought stress tolerance. Early drought stress (pre-anthesis drought) was found to be more damaging than the late drought stress (post- anthesis drought).