Abstract The study was conducted at the Research Greenhouse of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Twenty genotypes of chickpea were grown in pots (10×100 cm). Root traits including, total root length (TRL), number of lateral roots (NLR), root area (RA) and ratios of root dry weight (RDW) to root volume (RV) and leaf area (LA) to (RA) only at the seedling stage and root traits such as tap root length (TL), RVand RDW and shoot traits including, height of plant (H), leaf area (LA), leaf dry weight (LDW), stem dry weight (SDW) and root/shoot ratio at the seedling to seed filling were determined. Significant differenence were found in TI, TRL, NLR, RA, RDW at the seedling stage. The triats RV, NLR, RA, RDW and RA showed significant and positive correlation with TRL at the seedling stage. No correlation was found between root traits at the seedling stage with the same traits at the flowering, podding and seed filling stages. In the seedling stage the highest linear regression correlation between TRL and RA (r2=0.91), between TRL and RV (r2=0.81), between RV and RA (r2=0.82) and between TRL and NLR (r2=0.84) were found. The correlation coeffiicent of RV versus H was 0.89, 0.81 and 0.94 at the flowering, podding and seed filling stages, respectively. There was a significant correlation between RDW and RV at the flowering (r2=0.55) and podding stages(r2=0.56). Since RV, RA and RDW are easy to measure and has the highest correlation with the TRL at the seedling stage, therefore we will be able to use from equations produced for TRL estimation in this stage. These parameters are the major criteria for selection of drought resistance.

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