Feasibility study of cultivating desi‐type chickpea genotypes in cold and temperate regions

Shifting the sowing time of chickpea plants from spring to autumn in arid and semi‐arid regions of Iran is unavoidable. To study the feasibility of this issue, 32 desi‐type chickpea genotypes were planted in Mashhad (as a temperate region) and Jolgeh Rokh (as a cold region) to screen cold‐tolerant genotypes. The results revealed that 100% and 19% of the genotypes planted in Mashhad and Jolgeh Rokh had a survival range of 76–100%. MCC918 in Mashhad and MCC913 in Jolgeh Rokh had the highest height (69 and 33 cm, respectively). The highest biological yields in Mashhad and Jolgeh Rokh were found in MCC576 (1743 g m−2) and MCC207 (658 g m−2), respectively. The grain yield of 41% (13 genotypes) and 34% (11 genotypes) of the genotypes planted in Mashhad and Jolgeh Rokh was higher than the total average (316 and 82 g m−2, respectively). Also, the maximum grain yield in Mashhad was about 2.3 times higher than in Jolgeh Rokh. According to the present experimental results, MCC259, MCC576, and MCC607 in Mashhad as a cold temperate region and MCC207, MCC212, and MCC605 in Jolgeh Rokh as a cold region had the highest winter survival percentage and grain yield compared to the other genotypes.

generally light-colored seeds and is mainly cultivated in North Africa, West Asia, North America, and Europe, whereas desi type has smaller, angular, and dark seeds mainly grown in Asia and Africa (Rachwa-Rosiak et al., 2015). Desi type is mainly processed and consumed as split pea.
In Mediterranean regions, chickpea is traditionally sown in spring to prevent Ascochyta blight disease (Ascochyta rabiei Pass.) and freezing stress (Ozdemir & Karadavut, 2004). On the other hand, it is proved that production, yield, and yield stability of crops are higher in autumn cultivation due to the better establishment, proper use of precipitation, as well as plant escape from common heat and drought stresses in late spring and early summer . In addition, the plant's vegetative growth stage and hence assimilate synthesis increase in autumn cultivation (Hu et al., 2006;Nabati et al., 2021), strengthening plant sinks and ultimately enhancing yield. In this regard, researchers have reported that autumn cultivation of chickpeas in Mediterranean and dry regions improves yield characteristics of this crop compared to traditional spring cultivation (Ozdemir & Karadavut, 2004).
Higher water use efficiency, soil covering, and protection against erosion are advantages of autumn cultivation (McKersie & Lesheim, 2013). Despite the mentioned advantages for autumn cultivation, the selection of freezing-tolerant plants is one of the most important criteria for the success of planting in this season.
Morphological criteria such as the number of branches per plant and plant height have been considered in yield and yield components' assessment under different environmental conditions (Farooq et al., 2017). Leport et al. (2006) studied yield components of desiand kabuli-type chickpeas. They indicated that the morphological criteria of the plant are influential in determining pod number and, ultimately, grain yield. Because flowering and pod formation stages in legumes such as chickpeas are sensitive to undesirable environmental conditions, photosynthesis as well as assimilate allocation to the seeds and, thus, the final seed yield of the plant are probably affected by these conditions (Pang et al., 2016). Toker and Ilhan Cagirgan (2004) used the phenotypic correlation between studied parameters in chickpea genotypes and analyzed their factors to determine the characteristics associated with chickpea selection.
To determine selection characteristics associated with chickpea yield, Toker and Ilhan Cagirgan (2004) analyzed the phenotypic correlation between studied characteristics in chickpea genotypes and examined its factors. In this study, 17 kabuli-type chickpea genotypes were evaluated through parameters such as grain yield, biological yield, harvest index, plant height, branch number, pod number per plant, and 100-grain weight, where the relationship between them was used as an index for selection of superior genotypes. In a similar experiment, agro-morphological characteristics of lentil masses collected from southeastern Anatolia in Turkey were studied for selecting cultivars with a high stable yield, resistant to environmental stresses and suitable for mechanized harvesting (Toklu et al., 2009).
The present study aimed to screen 32 desi-type chickpea genotypes for autumn cultivation in cold and temperate regions by evaluating morphological characteristics, yield, and yield components as suitable indices for screening of superior genotypes.

| Experimental design and field implementation
In this study, 30 desi-type chickpea genotypes along with one coldtolerant cultivar (Saral) and an international cold-sensitive genotype (MCC505) were evaluated in a complete randomized block design with three replications. Seeds were provided from Mashhad Chickpea Collection Research Center for Plant Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (Table 1). Seeds were planted in autumn and treated with Carbendazim fungicide (WP 60% ® , 2:1000) prior to sowing. Land preparation was conducted using moldboard plow followed by cyclotiller. Planting was done in October the second decade. Seeds were sown in 2 cm soil depth and plant density of 30 plants m À2 ; 50 cm was considered for between-rows distance.
Irrigation was conducted three times during the growth period: immediately after sowing, 2 weeks after the first irrigation, and flowering stage. Hand-weeding was done three times during the growth stage in early March, early April, and early May. Pod borer (Heliothis viriplaca Hufn) was controlled using indoxacarb (Avant EC 15% ® ) at a rate of 200 ml ha À1 in the flowering stage and a week later by carbaryl (Sevin WP 85% ® ) at a rate of 3 kg ha À1 .

| Weather conditions
During the crop year, the days with freezing temperatures were 38 and 71 days, and the absolute minimum air temperature was À5 C and À9 C. The precipitation rate was also 326 and 279 mm (in Mashhad and Jolgeh Rokh, respectively).

| Survival percentage
Eighty-eight percent of genotypes planted in Mashhad were placed in the same group (SU% = 100%) (

| Plant height
Nine and six genotypes showed the highest plant height in Mashhad and Jolgeh Rokh, respectively (Tables 2 and 3). In this way,  MCC918 (69 cm) had the highest plant height in Mashhad and was placed in the same group with eight other genotypes ( Table 2). The highest plant height in Jolgeh Rokh was found in MCC913 (33 cm), which was located in the same group with five other genotypes (Table 3).

| Lowest pod height
Six and two genotypes in Mashhad and Jolgeh Rokh, respectively, showed the highest height of the first pod from the soil surface and were placed in the same group. MCC914 (44 cm) and MCC913 (12 cm) had the highest mean of this parameter in Mashhad and Jolgeh Rokh, respectively. Table 4 shows a significant positive correlation between the lowest pod height and plant height (R 2 = 0.70 ** and R 2 = 0.67 ** ) in Mashhad and Jolgeh Rokh, respectively.

| Number of branches per plant
Among the 32 studied genotypes, the highest number of branches per plant in Mashhad was found in MCC755, with nine branches, whereas MCC605, MCC32, and MCC755 (with six, seven, and seven branches) had the highest mean of this parameter in Jolgeh Rokh (Tables 2   and 3).

| One hundred-grain weight
Among survived genotypes, 100-grain weight varied between 13-42 and 9-32 g in Mashhad and Jolgeh Rokh, respectively (Tables 2 and 3). This parameter's highest and lowest mean was found in MCC199 (in Mashhad) and MCC751 (in Jolgeh Rokh), respectively. A significant positive correlation was observed between 100-grain weight and plant height (R 2 = 0.39 * and R 2 = 0.72 ** ) in Mashhad and Jolgeh Rokh, respectively (Table 4).   Table 4 also indicates a significant positive correlation between the percentage of filled pods and 100-grain weight in genotypes sown in Jolgeh Rokh, which was not found in Mashhad.

| Plant dry weight (PDW)
In Jolgeh Rokh, nine genotypes with a maximum PDW of 88 g in MCC600 were placed in the same group (Table 3), whereas no significant difference was found among the genotypes sown in Mashhad (Table 2). A significant positive correlation was found between PDW with plant height (R 2 = 0.57 ** ) and the number of pods per plant (R 2 = 0.83 ** ).

| Grain weight per plant
Unlike genotypes in Jolgeh Rokh, the difference between chickpea genotypes in Mashhad was insignificant in grain weight per plant (Tables 2 and 3). In Jolgeh Rokh, 10 genotypes had a higher mean of this parameter than the others. MCC914, as the genotype with the SWP (39 g), produced 6.5 times more seed than MCC603, which had the lowest grain weight. A significant positive correlation was observed between SWP with number of pods per plant (R 2 = 0.93 ** ) and PDW (R 2 = 0.94 ** ) ( Table 4).

T A B L E 5 Mean and deviation from mean of groups in cluster analysis for traits in chickpea genotypes in Mashhad
Trait Group 1 2 3 4 5 Genotypes (MCC) 100,603,913 212,580,600,884,885,901 207,505,605,613,751,754,755,914,922,Saral 194,199,259,291,40,576,607,83,911 29,310,32,918 Group mean

| Harvest index
Among the studied genotypes, three genotypes in Mashhad and six in Jolgeh Rokh had the highest harvest index (Tables 2 and 3). Harvest index varied between 14% (in MCC918) to 37% (in MCC885) and

| Cluster analysis
In both regions, all 32 genotypes were placed in five groups.
According to this grouping, in Mashhad, 3, 6, 10, 9, and 4 genotypes were placed in Groups 1 to 5, respectively ( Figure 5 and Table 5). The mean comparison of each group with the total mean revealed that SU % in the third and fourth groups and seed yield in the fourth group were higher than the total mean. However, the means of the other groups were lower than the total mean. Genotype grouping in Jolgeh Rokh also indicated that nine, eight, seven, five, and three genotypes were placed in Groups 1 to 5, respectively ( Figure 5 and Table 6). The mean comparison of each group with the total mean indicated that in Jolgeh Rokh, SU% and grain yield in the third and fourth groups were higher than the total mean.

| DISCUSSION
The difference between the climate conditions of the regions is a crucial factor in the difference between SU% in chickpea genotypes.
Winter survival is the first and most important factor in the entrance of plants into the following vegetative and reproductive growth (Rastgoo et al., 2022). It plays an important role in the geographical distribution of plants . In Mashhad, as a cold temperate region, the SU% of all the genotypes was higher than 84%, indicating their appropriate response to this region's temperate conditions. In Jolgeh Rokh as a cold region, changes between SU% and grain yield were favorable, revealing that plants with higher SU% also have higher grain yield. Genotypes planted in Jolgeh Rokh were not faced with the proper cold acclimation temperatures or increasing air temperatures (and thus deacclimation) followed by a sudden decrease in air temperature, which led to a reduction of cold tolerance and lower SU% (Nabati et al., 2020). On the other hand, the higher Genotypes (MCC) 100,29,310,576,580,603,83,885,911 194,199,40,607,613,884,922,Saral 207,212,291,605,751,901,913 32,600,754,755,914 259,505,918 Group mean the region. Precise determination of the freezing tolerance threshold of chickpeas is difficult because snow cover could protect the plant against freezing whereas factors like the wind could increase the damage (Croser et al., 2003). A similar study reported that À8 C was the minimum tolerable temperature for chickpea (Wery, 1990). The freezing temperature could be affected by plant genetic potential and environmental conditions. The low height of chickpea plant is one of the most important limiting factors in the mechanized harvesting of this plant. Most of the existing harvest machines do not have the ability for mechanized harvesting of the short chickpea plants, which leads to manual harvesting and, thus, an increase in production cost.
Appropriate diversity was observed in both regions in the case of plant height, which could effectively select tall genotypes to overcome these limitations. In addition, chickpea is a plant with an indeterminate growth habit (Hegde, 2011), so increasing plant height increases branch production and pod number, which could likely increase grain yield if the sink-source relationship is not affected by environmental stresses.
However, rosette growth type in plants such as chickpeas increases cold tolerance (Toker et al., 2007), so this trait should also be considered in genotype screening for autumn cultivation. In the present study, genotypes MCC259 and MCC607 in Mashhad and MCC212 in Jolgeh Rokh had the highest plant height, SU%, and grain yield compared to the other genotypes indicating their high potential to be selected for autumn cultivation, mechanized harvesting, and higher grain yield.
In addition to plant height, the lowest pod height is a critical factor in mechanized chickpea harvesting (Yucel et al., 2006). The lowest pod height was also formed at a higher height from the soil surface in tall plants. In chickpeas, the lowest pod height is usually between 15 and 20 cm (Basha et al., 2018). Lack of access to cultivars with the appropriate lowest pod height, especially in developing countries, is considered as one of the most important reasons for a decrease in the cultivated area of chickpea in the world in a way that increasing chickpea production in developed countries such as Australia, Canada, and the United States is mostly contributed to mechanized harvesting (Basha et al., 2018).
In both regions, the frequency of genotypes with higher ability in branch production was low. Likely, the genetic potential of the genotypes in plant production is low, and this parameter is less affected by the environment. Some researchers believe that branch production has the most significant role in chickpea seed production in a way that an increase in the number of branches per plant leads to increased biomass as well as pod and seed number (Bajaj et al., 2016).
The present study indicated that chickpea pod numbers varied under different environmental conditions. Chickpea plant height in autumn-sown plants is often higher than in spring-sown plants due to the proper soil moisture and longer growth period (Sharma, 2002).
According to the results of correlation assessment in Jolgeh Rokh, higher plant height increases branch number, which in turn leads to a higher number of nodes per plant flower formation and, finally, pod number.
The fertility potential of genotypes in Mashhad was higher than in Jolgeh Rokh. The climate conditions of Mashhad were more favorable for the adaptation of chickpea genotypes.
According to the results of the correlation assessment, in Jolgeh Rokh, the 100-grain weight was increased as the percentage of filled pods increased. So assimilates had been appropriately allocated to increase the percentage of filled pods and 100-grain weight. In other words, grain weight was also increased in addition to increased pod fertility and seed formation.
The number of genotypes with high 100-grain weight was low in both regions. Ozdemir and Karadavut (2004) (Demura & Ye, 2010). A significant positive correlation between biological yield and plant height has been reported in a study by Toker and Ilhan Cagirgan (2004).
Researchers believe that grain yield is the most important parameter in pulses screening (Duc et al., 2015). Although the response of chickpea genotypes to the environmental conditions of the study site was different in crop years 2018-2019, its autumn cultivation increases the grain yield compared to the common grain yield in spring due to the longer growth period and better utilization of precipitation.  (Figure 4). According to the high importance of these two parameters in genotypes screening, it could be concluded that these genotypes had the best response in each of these regions.
The harvest index is a well-known and composite variable in agronomy that is used in grain yield assessment in breeding programs (Jensen et al., 2020). In both regions, the harvest index was higher for some chickpea genotypes, indicating their proper productivity of longer growing seasons and allocation of more assimilates to grain.
Genotypes with lower harvest index had higher biological yield indicating their higher ability to produce the straw. Even though the frequency of genotypes with high harvest index was not high, according to the results of the correlation assessment, screening of a genotype with a high harvest index could also lead to a higher grain yield. Toker and Ilhan Cagirgan (2004) also reported a significant positive correlation between grain yield and the harvest index of chickpea genotypes. Genotype grouping indicated that in Mashhad, genotypes of the fourth group ( Figure 5 and Table 5) were superior in nine parameters. In Jolgeh Rokh, genotypes of the third group ( Figure 5 and Table 6) were superior in all 12 studied parameters. Therefore, the genotypes of the fourth group in Mashhad and the third group in Jolgeh Rokh had a better response to environmental conditions and had a higher potential for screening.

| CONCLUSION
Different responses of the chickpea genotypes in the studied regions indicated their influence on climatic parameters especially temperature fluctuations. Jolgeh Rokh is at a higher altitude compared to Mashhad, so genotypes cultivated in this region were more affected by lower temperatures. In the present study, average of maximum and minimum relative air temperature in Mashhad (83% and 41%) was higher than Jolgeh Rokh (74% and 35%), respectively. Likely, the vegetative and reproductive stages of the studied genotypes were more adapted to higher air humidity, which resulted in the different grain yields between the two regions. It seems that in Jolgeh Rokh, a drop in air temperature after a period in which chickpea plantlets were exposed to high temperatures had prevented the plants from deacclimation and caused severe damage to the plants and, ultimately, a reduction in SU%. Also, the difference between maximum and minimum daily air temperature is high in Jolgeh Rokh. During the day, sunlight is absorbed by the plant and is transmitted as heat during the night when the sky is clear and non-cloudy. Therefore, the dense cold air inside the canopy of chickpea genotypes is due to the radiation frost phenomenon that caused severe damage in the early plant growth stages. In general, according to the genotype grouping in the present study, it could be concluded that genotypes Rokh (as a cold region) had higher plant height, SU%, and grain yield compared to the other genotypes and could be introduced as superior genotypes in these regions.