Nutritional variation and drought tolerance in chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.)

Pulses are an important dietary constituent in human and animal diets. As well as being a source of income and livestock feed, pulses satisfy 33% of the dietary protein nitrogen (N) needs of humans. Pulses are often exposed to environmental stresses (biotic and abiotic) that decrease their productivity throughout the world. Abiotic stresses (drought, salt, temperature, UV, nutrient deficiency) alone are responsible for more than 50% yield reductions of some major crops. The following examination of drought stress types (no irrigation, early period stress, late period stress, control) of 10 chickpea genotypes from Turkey was carried out for two years (2010 and 2011) in a field experiment set up accoding to a randomized complete block design with three replications and conducted under the ecological conditions prevalent in Konya, Turkey. The investigated nutrition-related parameters were the seed concentrations of protein, fat, ash, fiber, moisture, non-nitrogenous pith substances and minerals. Means achieved under the particular stress types showed that the protein percentage ranged from 19.71% to 19.80%, fat – 4.640 to 4.690%, ash – 2.810 to 2.860%, fiber – 7.360 to 7.400%, moisture – 9.150 to 9.180%, non-nitrogenous pith substances – 56.16 to 56.25%, while the mineral content (mg kg^-1) corresponded to the following ranges: 9.700 to 9.980 B, 68.32 to 79.44 for Fe, 8866.3 to 8912.4 for K, 1383.1 to 1410.3 for Mg, 21.99 to 23.85 Mn, 3148.0 to 3192.6 P, 1815.6 to 1835.4 for S and from 25.81 to 28.43 for Zn. In general, the content of protein, magnesium and sulfur showed the lowest values under no irrigation conditions, while the content of ash, non-nitrogenous pith substances, boron, potassium, phosphorus and zinc showed the highest values under no irrigation conditions. Additionally, the nutritional value of chickpea seeds showed significant differences for all of the investigated characteristics viewed in terms of triple interactions (year x stress factor x genotype). The present research results can be useful for farmers, plant breeders, food companies etc., interested in chickpea. Finally, responses of the genotypes to different levels of drought stress were modified by the investigated quality characteristics.