An experiment was conducted in 1994-95 to test the effects of soil moisture (two levels, nil and fully irrigated) and shade (two levels, full light and 40% shaded) on the abortion of reproductive structures, yield, and yield components in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Shade and soil moisture interacted significantly, and the highest dry matter (DM) production of 838 g/m 2 was produced by unshaded irrigated plants. This was about twice the DM produced by shaded unirrigated plants. Total DM production was highly correlated with radiation interception, where c. 2.1 g DM were produced per MJ of intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Functional growth analysis showed that the crop growth rates were 14 and 27 g/m 2 per day for shaded and unshaded plants respectively. The two factors again interacted on seed yield. Highest yields were produced from plants that were unshaded and irrigated (389 g/m 2 ), whereas shaded irrigated plants produced only 139 g/m 2 . Reduced seed yield was accompanied by a large drop in harvest index (HI) in shaded irrigated plants. This drop in HI was because of a limited assimilate supply in shaded plants and increased reproductive abortion in shaded and irrigated plants.

The phenological development of one variety of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L. 'Hernandez') was studied in Canterbury, New Zealand using eight sowing dates in 1992-93 (July and September), 1993-94 (July until November), and 1994-95 (October). The duration of all phases was predicted based on thermal time above 4°C. For emergence to flowering (E-F), photoperiod-corrected thermal time with a base photoperiod of 10 h was calculated, but thermal time gave a better relationship with flowering rate. The mean accumulated thermal times for the different phases were 133, 447, 761, and 377°C days for sowing to emergence (S-E), E-F, flowering to mature pod (F-MP), and mature pod to harvest maturity (MP-HM) respectively. An accurate prediction of time to flowering was made based on an accumulated mean thermal time requirement of 447°C days from E to F. The relationship between the actual and predicted dates of flowering was highly significant (r 2 = 0.983), and data from an independent source fitted the model well. Keywords chickpea; Cicer arietinum; phenology; flowering; photothermal time; base temperature; base photoperiod H98049