A POT TECHNIQUE TO SCREEN PIGEONPEA CULTIVARS FOR RESISTANCE TO WATERLOGGING

To develop a preliminary screening procedure for waterlogging resistan ce, a waterlogging resistant ICP 8379 and a waterlogging susceptible c ultivar ICP 7035 were grown in pots using different growth media and s ubjected 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 comparative ly small. The most conspicuous differences between the two cultivars o ccurred in terms of plant survival. In different soil treatments, ICP 8379 showed 0-38 % mortality and ICP 7035 showed 63-100 % mortality. T he variation in mortality occurred in response to differences in growt h 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 w ere observed. A number of cultivars showed similar low mortality as IC P 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.