ASSESSMENT OF CHICKPEA MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS BY VENµS ALL BANDS AND VEGETATION INDICES

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is an important grain-legume worldwide and water-stress is a major constraint to its productivity. Area under chickpea cultivation is recently growing. Moreover, global climate change toward greater aridity resulted in higher fluctuation in precipitation. Thus, improved ability to spatially assess plants water status can promote more efficient irrigation. The current study aims to assess water potential, leaf area index, biomass and grain yield by VENµS (Vegetation and Environment monitoring on a New MicroSatellite). During the growing season of 2018-2019, field experiments were grown in three locations, representing different climatic conditions across Israel. Five irrigation regimes were applied: 50%, 75%, 100%, 125% and 150% of Penman-Monteith evapotranspiration were implemented in Giva’at Haim and Or HaNer. In Gilat the 75% and 125% treatments were applied in plots that are relevant to VENµS pixel size. Plants were characterized weekly for morpho-physiological traits, and yield data will be obtained in the end of the experiment. Preliminary results showed differences in vegetation indices values as well as in water potential, biomass and LAI values. We will discuss the potential of using VENµS data for assessment of morpho-physiological traits and yield components in chickpea.