A study was conducted under simulated raised rectangular soil beds in order to know the variation in root traits among the redgram genotypes during kharif 2019-20 and 2020-21. Ten redgram genotypes (4 mid early, 4 medium and 2 late duration genotypes) were selected for the present research purpose. Root traits, such as root depth and root biomass, have been identified as the most promising plant traits in legume crops like pigeonpea and chickpea for terminal drought tolerance, as these help in greater extraction of available soil moisture. Conducting research on roots is very labour- expensive and time consuming because extraction of roots from the soil is a very difficult task. So, the present research was conducted separately in raised bed method to evaluate the root traits among mid-early, medium and late duration genotypes of redgram. Root traits were measured at 65 DAS through destructive method and the pooled data revealed that there was significant variation among the three duration genotypes. The highest root length, number of primary and secondary roots, root: shoot ratio was recorded by the medium duration genotype LRG 52, followed by the mid-early duration genotype CO-6. The lowest values of root characteristics were recorded in the late duration genotypes viz., ICPL 15062 and ICPL 17103.The remaining mid-early and medium duration genotypes are significantly superior over ICPL 17103 and 15062 and inferior over CO-6 and LRG-52. Hence, it can be concluded that the genotypes LRG-52 and CO-6 are considered as drought tolerant ones by possessing efficient rooting pattern under rainfed conditions

Cajanus cajan, root traits, Terminal drought, Raised soil bed.

A study was conducted under simulated raised rectangular soil beds in order to know the variation in root traits among the redgram genotypes during kharif 2019-20 and 2020-21. Ten redgram genotypes (4 mid early, 4 medium and 2 late duration genotypes) were selected for the present research purpose. Root traits, such as root depth and root biomass, have been identified as the most promising plant traits in legume crops like pigeonpea and chickpea for terminal drought tolerance, as these help in greater extraction of available soil moisture. Conducting research on roots is very labour- expensive and time consuming because extraction of roots from the soil is a very difficult task. So, the present research was conducted separately in raised bed method to evaluate the root traits among mid-early, medium and late duration genotypes of redgram. Root traits were measured at 65 DAS through destructive method and the pooled data revealed that there was significant variation among the three duration genotypes. The highest root length, number of primary and secondary roots, root: shoot ratio was recorded by the medium duration genotype LRG 52, followed by the mid-early duration genotype CO-6. The lowest values of root characteristics were recorded in the late duration genotypes viz., ICPL 15062 and ICPL 17103.The remaining mid-early and medium duration genotypes are significantly superior over ICPL 17103 and 15062 and inferior over CO-6 and LRG-52. Hence, it can be concluded that the genotypes LRG-52 and CO-6 are considered as drought tolerant ones by possessing efficient rooting pattern under rainfed conditions.

R. Pavani, K. Jayalalitha, V. Umamahesh, M. Sree Rekha and Ch. Sujani Rao (2022). Variation in Root Traits of Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Mill SP.) Genotypes Under Rainfed Conditions. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(2): 464-468.