Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is negatively affected by drought stress at all the growth stages, including germination and seedling emergence. The recent study aimed to investigate the drought-tolerant Kabuli chickpea genotypes at the seedling stage under osmotic stress conditions. An in vitro screening technique evaluated the 120 different genotypes of Kabuli chickpea for drought tolerance by using different concentrations of polyethylene glycol (8000) solution, viz., T0: Control, T1: -0.19 MPa, and T2: -0.47 MPa, arranged in a completely randomized design. Data were recorded on germination percentage, root length, shoot length, seedling length, root/shoot ratio, dry matter, seedling vigor index, and proline content. The results of a pooled analysis of variance revealed significant variability among genotypes, different polyethylene glycol treatments, as well as, between genotypes and treatments. The increase of polyethylene glycol levels negatively affected most of the parameters under study, except for proline content, which increased with an increase in polyethylene glycol concentration. The study results indicated that the advanced lines, 15KCC-106, 13KCC-114, 6KCC-103, GP-37, FS-10, and 12KCC-106, performed better under different osmotic stress conditions and gained selection as drought-tolerant advanced lines at early seedling stage. These advanced lines suitably combine with their desirable traits to cope with the drought condition and can serve as a baseline for the improvement of Kabuli chickpea breeding material for drought tolerance.
