Effects of Water Stress and Pod Position on the Seed Quality of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Cultivars

A field experiment was carried out in 2008 to evaluate the effects of different irrigation treatments (I-1, I-2 and I-3: irrigation after 70, 120 and 170 mm evaporation from class A pan, respectively) and pod positions (upper, lower and middle parrs of the canopy) on the seed quality of four chickpea cultivars ('Jam', 'Hashem', 'Arman' and 'ILC' from Kabuli type). Seed quality as determined by means of the electrical conductivity of seed leachates, germination percentage, germination rate and seedling dry weight were not significantly affected by water stress, but mean seed weight decreased with increasing irrigation intervals. The largest seeds with the highest quality were obtained from the lower parts of the canopy. No significant interaction of irrigation versus seed position indicated that seeds of lower position had high quality under both adequate and limited irrigations. 'ILC' had larger and more vigorous seeds compared to other cultivars. Mean seed weight, germination percentage, germination rate and seedling dry weight had positive and significant correlation with each other. It was concluded that sorting chickpea seeds for large and uniform size after harvest could be a practical way of improving seed lot quality.