Antioxidant systems, germination and nodulation in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes under drought

Drought stress is one of the important factors limiting legumes growth and nodulation in arid and semi-arid regions such as southern Morocco. Hence, the identification of more drought tolerant chickpea varieties is one of crucial approaches to improve its yield in these regions. In this work, we assessed the effects of water deficit (induced by different polyethyleneglycol (PEG6000) osmotic potentials: 0 (control), - 0.2 (HS1), 0.5 (HS2) and - 0.7 MPa (HS3) on the germination parameters of five chickpea varieties (Zahour, Rizki, Douyet, Farihane and Mazouzia) as well as their growth, nodulation and antioxidant responses to 40 % of field capacity (FC) water deficit in pots for 30 days. The result showed that drought significantly reduced germination parameters in all of the studied varieties. Zahour presented the highest germination percentages (GP) of 37 % and 8 % under HS1 and HS2 respectively, as well as the highest shoot and root lengths. After two months of germination, the plants from HS1 and HS2 seeds have presented more drought tolerance with significant increases in their roots and shoots lengths, nodules number and antioxidant enzymes activities, especially for Zahour and Rizki varieties from HS1 seeds, they maintained high peroxidase (POD) and polyphenoloxidase (PPO) activities and low malonyldialdehyde (MDA) contents. Based on these results, Zahour and Rizki varieties from HS1 seeds were selected as more droughts tolerant, while Farihane were qualified as less drought tolerant.