Abstract
In nature, plants may suffer rapid dehydration (RD), which causes significant loss of the annual global chickpea production. Thus, ascertaining more knowledge concerning the RD‐tolerance mechanisms in chickpea is crucial for developing high drought‐tolerant varieties to assure sustainable chickpea production under sudden water deficit. Here, we focused on genotype‐driven variation in leaf relative water content (RWC) and associated differences in RD‐responsive physiological and biochemical attributes in roots and leaves of two chickpea varieties, FLIP00‐21C and FLIP02‐89C, subjected to well‐watered and RD conditions. FLIP00‐21C showed higher RD‐tolerance than FLIP02‐89C, evident by its higher leaf RWC during RD. Consistently, FLIP00‐21C exhibited lower membrane injury due to lower hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) accumulation than FLIP02‐89C during RD, indicating reduced RD‐induced oxidative damage. Under RD conditions, total phenolics in roots and flavonoids in roots and leaves increased more in FLIP02‐89C compared to FLIP00‐21C; however, the increased activities of superoxide dismutase and H2O2‐scavenging enzymes were more properly coordinated in FLIP00‐21C than in FLIP02‐89C, which might contribute to more efficient antioxidant defense in FLIP00‐21C than in FLIP02‐89C. The higher leaf RWC of FLIP00‐21C versus FLIP02‐89C under RD might be associated with greater increases in the levels of the osmo‐regulators proline and total free amino acids (TFAAs) in FLIP00‐21C than in FLIP02‐89C. Collectively, the higher RD‐tolerance of FLIP00‐21C is mainly associated with the maintenance of higher RWC, stronger antioxidant defense, and greater accumulation of proline and TFAAs. These traits could be useful for evaluating the drought‐tolerance of chickpea varieties and further marker‐assisted breeding approaches for improvement of chickpea productivity.