A pot technique to screen pigeonpea cuitivars for resistance to waterlogging

Abstract

To develop a preliminary screening procedure for waterlogging resistance, a waterlogging resistant ICP 8379 and a waterlogging susceptible cultivar ICP 7035 were grown in pots using different growth media and subjected to 6 days of waterlogging. Waterlogging caused a significant reduction in root dry mass of both cultivars which was greater in ICP 7035 than in ICP 8379. The reduction in shoot dry mass was comparatively small. The most conspicuous differences between the two cultivars occurred in terms of plant survival. In different soil treatments, ICP 8379 showed 0-38% mortality and ICP 7035 showed 63-100% mortality. The variation in mortality occurred in response to differences in growth medium. Using the growth medium that gave maximum differences, eight additional cultivars were compared along with ICP 7035 and ICP 8379. Significant differences in plant mortality among different cultivars were observed. A number of cultivars showed similar low mortality as ICP 8379. Therefore, there appears to be a potential to use this method for preliminary screening of a large number of pigeonpea cultivars for waterlogging resistance.