Phenological development of chickpeas (Cicer arietinum) in Canterbury, New Zealand

The phenological development of one variety of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L. 'Hernandez') was studied in Canterbury, New Zealand using eight sowing dates in 1992-93 (July and September), 1993-94 (July until November), and 1994-95 (October). The duration of all phases was predicted based on thermal time above 4 degrees C. For emergence to flowering (E-F), photoperiod-corrected thermal time with a base photoperiod of 10 h was calculated, but thermal time gave a better relationship with flowering rate. The mean accumulated thermal times for the different phases were 133, 447, 761, and 377 degrees C days for sowing to emergence (S-E), E-F, flowering to mature pod (F-MP), and mature pod to harvest maturity (MP-HM) respectively. An accurate prediction of time to flowering was made based on an accumulated mean thermal time requirement of 447 degrees C days from E to F. The relationship between the actual and predicted dates of flowering was highly significant (r(2) = 0.983), and data from an independent source fitted the model well.