Extreme weather phenomena affecting crop production, more specifically horticultural production, such as unusually hot and dry summers and occasional storms and floodlike rains became increasingly frequent during the recent years. The impact of extreme weather conditions endangering yield safety and increasing economic damages can be mitigated by selecting the crop species less sensitive to weather extremities and the proper production technology.

The stress tolerance and water use efficiency of six pea varieties of different maturity and leaf type were examined in irrigated, water deficient and non-irrigated conditions. In drought years, the height and biomass production of crops were lower than in wet years, despite the applied irrigation. The early ripening variety was less sensitive to water deficit than the late ripening varieties. There was a significant difference in the stomatal resistance values, water use efficiency and yield components between mid-ripening varieties. During pod ripening, high seed yield can be obtained if the stomatal resistance is between 2.0–3.0 s cm-1 in the mid-ripening group. However, seed yield per crop significantly decreased beyond this level. The half leafless, lateripening ""afila"" variety was the least tolerant to drought production conditions. The obtained results provide an opportunity to select genotypes which are more tolerant to water deficit.

Keywords: green pea, water use efficiency, stomatal resistance