Winter Hardiness in the Progeny of a Chickpea/C. Reticulatum Wide Cross.

Worldwide, over 8.8 million tonnes of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L) were cultivated on 11.9 million hectares in 2010. Chickpea contain an average of 22% protein, are high in fiber, potassium and B vitamins and are linked to reduced incidences of heart disease and diabetes. They play an important role in cropping systems due to their N-fixation capacity, interruption of disease cycles and role in boosting cereal yields.  Throughout the temperate regions of the world, chickpeas are spring planted because they lack cold hardiness alleles to survive freezing temperatures. Spring planting limits grain yield and leaves insufficient crop residues to prevent soil erosion and contribute to soil organic matter. Additionally, shifting climatic patterns are predicted to result in longer, wetter springs that delay planting and hotter, drier summers that can cause heat stress during flowering and pod set. The development of a fall-planted, winter chickpea could improve yields by increasing the length of the growing season, help escape late season drought, and provide additional protection from cool temperatures during seed set in the early spring. Early progenitors and relative of chickpea do posses alleles for winter hardiness, photo period sensitivity and a vernalization response. A recombinant inbred line population consisting of 131 F8 individuals was made between cultivated cold susceptible chickpea (ICC 4958) and the winter hardy C. reticulatum (PI 489777), chickpea’s wild progenitor. That population has been evaluated for winter hardiness in four environments in Washington State over two years to test its winter hardiness when challenged by cold. Survival of the lines was distributed bimodally at the two extremes: no survival or zero winter kill. A total of 17 lines have been identified for further evaluation of their cold response and analysis with digital gene expression profiling to link expressed transcripts to trait data.