An evaluation of freezing tolerance of winter chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) using controlled freeze tests

Abstract

Nezami, A., Bandara, M. S. and Gusta, L. V. 2012. An evaluation of freezing tolerance of winter chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) using controlled freeze tests. Can. J. Plant Sci. 92: 155Á161. Chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.) are subject to freezing injury and/ or winter kill. Field testing for freezing tolerance evaluation is slow, unreliable, and highly variable; thus an artificial freeze test that correlates with field survival is required. Our objective was to develop a reliable and simple artificial freeze test to evaluate the freezing tolerance of winter chickpeas. Four cultivars with varying levels of freezing tolerance were grown and cold acclimated under low irradiance (150 mmol m (2 s (1 ) and high irradiance (400 mmol m (2 s (1 ). Acclimated whole plants or excised leaflets were subjected to six tests to determine the LT 50 temperature (lowest temperature to kill 50% of the plants). In two tests, following the freeze test, whole plants were held at 208C/158C (day/night) for 3 wk for re-growth analysis. LT 50 was estimated from both axillary buds and foliage re-growth and from foliage re-growth. The LT 50 was also assessed on excised plantlets from whole plants frozen to a series of test temperatures. LT 50 was determined by re-growth of plantlets held for 1 wk at 208C in test tubes or by electrolyte leakage following thawing at 208C. Excised plantlets were frozen to the same temperatures used for the whole plants. LT 50 was determined by re-growth in test tubes for 1 wk or by electrolyte leakage. Results from excised plant parts from frozen intact plants or plantlets excised prior to the freeze test were similar to those estimates derived from re-growth analysis of plants frozen whole. Freeze test employing excised plantlets offers high precision and the ability to screen large populations. Plants grown and cold acclimated under an irradiance of 150 mmol m (2 s (1 were not as freezing tolerant as those grown and cold acclimated under an irradiance of 400 mmol m (2 s (1 .Nezami, A., Bandara, M. S. et Gusta, L. V. 2012. É valuation de la tole´rance au gel du pois chiche (Cicer arietinum L.) d'hiver au moyen d'essais de conge´lation controˆle´s. Can. J. Plant Sci. 92: 155Á161. Le pois chiche (Cicer arietinum L.) peut souffrir de dommages dus au gel, voire eˆtre de´truit par l'hiver. Les essais au champ servant a`e´valuer la tole´rance au gel sont lents, manquent de fiabilite´et donnent des re´sultats tre`s variables. On a donc besoin d'un test de conge´lation artificielle qu'on pourrait corre´ler au taux de survie au champ. Les auteurs voulaient mettre au point un test simple et fiable recourant artificiellement au gel pour e´valuer la tole´rance au froid du pois chiche d'hiver. À cette fin, ils ont cultive´quatre varie´te´s de tole´rance variable au gel et les ont acclimate´es au froid sous un faible (150 mmol par m 2 et par seconde) ou un fort e´clairement e´nerge´tique (400 mmol par m 2 et par seconde). Les plants entiers ou les folioles excise´es acclimate´s ont ensuite e´te´soumis a`six essais visant a`e´t...

Effects of Temperature Stresses on the Resistance of Chickpea Genotypes and Aggressiveness of Didymella rabiei Isolates

“…Chickpea yield can be substantially increased by adopting early winter sowing at low to medium altitudes in the West Asia and North African (WANA) region (Hawtin and Singh, 1984 ; Singh et al, 1989 ; Mazid et al, 2013 ). However, sowing chickpea in winter can increase the risk of exposing the crop to subzero temperatures as low as −10°C for up to 60 days and to chilling temperature and Ascochyta blight epidemics during the cropping season (Malhotra and Singh, 1991 ; Singh et al, 1993 ; Croser et al, 2003 ; Nezami et al, 2012 ).…”

Effect of short-term versus prolonged freezing on freeze–thaw injury and post-thaw recovery in spinach: Importance in laboratory freeze–thaw protocols

“…While the importance of using relatively slow cooling and thawing in artificial freeze-thaw assays in order to simulate an episodic natural frost Weiss and Palta, 1991) has been generally recognized, these tests often ignore other critical factors associated with freezing in nature (Gusta and Wisniewski, 2013); these are (among others), administering ice nucleation at relatively warm sub-zero temperatures , presence of light (and its intensity) during thaw Nezami et al, 2012), frost-injury in dry versus wet tissues (Wisniewski et al, 2002;Gusta et al, 2004;Aryal and Neuner, 2010), potential for a post-thaw recovery .…”

Gas exchange variables as promising criteria for screening freezing‐tolerant faba bean (Vicia faba L.) landraces at early growth stages

“…In an experiment by Hurry et al (1995), it was found that autumn rapeseed ( Brassica napus L.) had higher chlorophyll content than the spring cultivar, which resulted from a better cold acclimation of this cultivar. Studying the effect of low temperature on chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.) revealed that low temperatures decreased the genotypes Chla content differently (Nezami et al, 2007).…”

“…Studies have attributed the decline in plant dry weight during the recovery period to the effects of freezing damage on plants and their shoot regrowth ability (Azizi et al, 2007). Nezami et al (2007) found a high correlation between LT 50 and RDMT 50 of chickpea genotypes and denoted that RDMT 50 of the tolerant genotypes was lower than susceptible genotypes.…”