Evaluation and identification of chickpea gamma-ray mutant lines for their high yield, nitrogen, and water use efficiency

PURPOSE: mutant lines with high yield potential and improved resource-use efficiency under contrasting water regimes using isotopic analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: C), chlorophyll content, relative water content, and canopy temperature. RESULTS: C as a drought-tolerance indicator. Principal Component Analysis explained 63.12% of the variation under irrigation and 59.93% under rainfed conditions, mainly driven by hundred-seed weight, plant height, yield, seed nitrogen content, and flowering time. Cluster analysis grouped the 18 genotypes into four subclusters under both the rain-fed and irrigated regimes. CONCLUSIONS: C, despite lower yields.