Achievements and challenges in improving nutritional quality of chickpea

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) grains are an excellent source of protein, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, dietary fibre, folate, β-carotene and health promoting fatty acids. Their consumption provides consumers with a variety of nutritional and health benefits. Limited breeding efforts have been made on nutritional quality traits of chickpea. Potential exists for further enhancing contents of protein, minerals (iron and zinc), folate and β-carotene and reducing the contents of flatulence causing raffinose family of oligosaccharides (RFOs). The desi types account for about 80% to 85% of the global chickpea area and largely grown in South Asia, Eastern Africa, and Australia and mainly consumed in South Asia. Though the total chickpea area under kabuli type is less (15 to 20%), the production and consumption of kabuli type is globally more wide spread than the desi types. Chickpeas are mainly used for human consumption and a very small proportion as animal feed. The dry chickpea grains are used whole (after soaking and/or cooking, roasting or parching) or dehulled to make splits (dal) or ground to produce flour (besan). The soaked/cooked chickpea grains are used in salads, making vegetable curries (Chhole) and several other preparations, such as falafel (deep fried balls or patties) and hummus (chickpea dip or spread). The chickpea flour is used in making a wide variety of snack foods, soups, sweets, and condiments besides being mixed with wheat flour to make Indian bread (roti or chapati). Invariably, splits (dal) and flour are made from desi type, while hummus is made from kabuli type. Chickpea leaves are used as leafy vegetable and immature green grains are eaten raw or after roasting and also used as vegetable