Market Class: Black Desi Chickpea
Year Registered: 2021
Sub-Licenced outside of SK: Pending
International distribution rights: Not assigned
Breeder: Dr. Bunyamin Tar’an, Crop Development Centre, University of Saskatchewan
Plant Breeders Rights: PBR’91
Description
CDC Kala (2570-2) is a black desi chickpea variety and represents an opportunity to pursue a niche market for this type of chickpea. CDC Kala has tolerance to imazamox herbicide (Solo ADV as per PMRA label registration). In 5 years of testing in the Chickpea Regional Variety Trials (2019 – 2023), CDC Kala yielded 100% in the brown soil zone and 92% in the dark brown soil zone compared to the historical check “Amit” (Table 1). Compared to the current check, CDC Lancer, CDC Kala yielded 11-13% lower. Statistical analysis of 5 years of long-term Regional Variety Trial data ranked CDC Kala 8th for yield in the brown soil zone and 9th in the dark brown soil zone among 10 historical and new kabuli and desi chickpea varieties (Figure 1). CDC Kala is rated “early” for maturity. It is 3 days earlier than CDC Consul and 4 days earlier than CDC Cory. In 5 years of regional variety trial data, CDC Kala matured 3 days earlier than CDC Leader and 1 day earlier than CDC Lancer (Table 2). CDC Kala has imazamox herbicide tolerance (Solo ADV as per PMRA label registration). CDC Kala has PBR’91 protection.
Strengths
- Herbicide tolerance (imazamox)
- Earliest maturing chickpea variety
- Good resistance to Ascochyta blight (similar to CDC Consul; better than CDC Cory)
Weaknesses
- Lower yield than CDC Cory or CDC Consul
- Smaller seed than other desi chickpeas
- Shorter than other desi chickpeas
Table 1: Performance data of chickpea varieties from the Co-op and Regional Trials in Saskatchewan
| Variety | Herbicide Tolerance: SOLO® ADV (Imazamox) | Type | Yield (% CDC Lancer) | Height (cm) | Days to flower | Maturity Rating | Ascochyta Blight2 | Seed shape | Seed Coat Colour | Seed Weight (g/1000) | |
| Area 11 | Area 21 | ||||||||||
| CDC Lancer | YES | Kabuli | 100 | 100 | 40 | 52 | M | 4.4 | Ram-head | Beige | 353 |
| Amit | no | Kabuli | 89 | 95 | 46 | 56 | L | 4.4 | Round | Beige | 257 |
| CDC Frontier | no | Kabuli | 97 | 103 | 44 | 55 | L | 4.5 | Ram-head | Beige | 349 |
| CDC Leader | no | Kabuli | 94 | 89 | 41 | 53 | M | 4.6 | Ram-head | Beige | 385 |
| CDC Orion | no | Kabuli | 85 | 89 | 43 | 51 | L | 5.1 | Ram-head | Beige | 426 |
| CDC Orkney | YES | Kabuli | 99 | 103 | 43 | 53 | ML | 4.7 | Ram-head | Beige | 359 |
| CDC Palmer | no | Kabuli | 96 | 92 | 41 | 52 | ML | 4.9 | Ram-head | Beige | 413 |
| CDC Pasqua | YES | Kabuli | 86 | 92 | 42 | 52 | L | 4.6 | Ram-head | Beige | 417 |
| CDC Pearl | YES | Kabuli | 98 | 101 | 43 | 52 | ML | 4.4 | Ram-head | Beige | 291 |
| CDC Consul | no | Desi | 96 | 95 | 45 | 53 | M | 4.0 | Plump | Light tan | 299 |
| CDC Cory | YES | Desi | 99 | 101 | 46 | 56 | M | 4.3 | Angular/plump | Tan | 269 |
| CDC Kala | YES | Black desi | 89 | 87 | 40 | 52 | E | 4.3 | Angular | Black | 237 |
| CDC Sunset | YES | Desi | 93 | 98 | 43 | 53 | M | 4.3 | Angular/plump | Light tan | 285 |
Source: Varieties of Grain Crops (SaskSeed Guide)
1Area 1 = Brown soil zone; Area 2 = Dark brown soil zone
2Ascochyta Blight at pod filling period: 0-9 scale; 0 = no symptom; 9 = plants are completely blighted. Scores 4-6 are considered intermediate.
Table 2. Days to maturity compared to CDC Leader from 5 years of Regional Variety Trial data in SK (2019-2023)
| Variety | Type | Days to maturity | Maturity (+/- days vs. CDC Leader) |
| CDC Leader | Kabuli | 101 | 0 |
| CDC Lancer | Kabuli | 99 | -2 |
| CDC Orkney | Kabuli | 100 | 0 |
| CDC Pasqua | Kabuli | 101 | 0 |
| CDC Pearl | Kabuli | 100 | -1 |
| CDC Sunset | Desi | 100 | -1 |
| CDC Kala | Black desi | 98 | -3 |
Figure 1. Relative yield ranking of kabuli and desi chickpea varieties from 6 years of Regional Variety Trial data in Saskatchewan in the brown (left) and dark brown (right) soil zones. Ranking is from BLUP (Best Linear Unbiased Prediction) statistical analysis.
