Response of chickpea seed germination to varying temperatures

Fifteen cultivars of chickpea were evaluated by having vigour test viz. percent germination, shoot length, root length, dry matter per seedling, vigour index and growth rate index. These were determined in the laboratory of National Seed Project centered at Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during 2005. The germination was below 90 per cent at 350C temperature in HC-3, HK-1, HC-1, H-208, Gora Hisari and H Gaurav cultivars. At 250C temperature, germination rate index was above 13.0 in most of the cultivars. Seed vigor (SG1) was maximum around 250C. It is concluded that temperature had a strong influence on the germination and seed vigour of different chickpea cultivars.