Interception of photosynthetically active radiation and its utilization by chickpea varieties under irrigated and water stress conditions

Field experiments were conducted at IARI, New Delhi to study the interception of photosynthetically active radiation and utilization in six varieties of chickpea viz., Amethyst, Annegiri, BG-362, ICC-4958, K-850 and Tyson. Among the varieties, BG-362, K-850 and Annegiri intercepted higher percentage of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) as compared to the other three varieties under both irrigated and unirrigated conditions at the maximum leaf area index (LAI) stage. The intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (IPAR) was closely related to the biomass production. The R 2 values for the regression equations between IPAR and biomass revealed that IPAR accounted for 90 to 93 per cent of the variation in biomass production in chickpea. Both IPAR and radiation use efficiency (RUE) were reduced under unirrigated conditions. However, the reduction in RUE was relatively less in Annegiri, K-850 and ICC-4958 suggesting that it has a role to play for increasing the productivity of chickpea in rainfed areas.