1Division of Genetics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110 012, India
2Centre for Food Technology, University of Allahabad, Allahabad-211 002, Uttar Pradesh, India
3UP Council of Agricultural Research, Lucknow-226 010, Uttar Pradesh, India
4AIOA, Amity University, Noida-201 313, Uttar Pradesh, India
5International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, Rabat, Morocco
*Corresponding Author: Rajendra Kumar, Division of Genetics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110 012, India. Email: rajendrak64@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 30 September, 2022.
United Nations SDG-2 and SDG-3 pledges to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and reduce premature deaths of children persisting amongst 821 million people globally. Chickpeas, the second largest food legume in the world, are important due to dietary, therapeutic and health values since Roman times and are ideal source of protein, carbohydrate, minerals and p-carotene. Therefore, it is central to alleviate malnutrition and ensuring good health.
We conducted experiments during Rabi crop season 2018–19 and 2019–20 and studied proximate nutritional compositions such as protein, its bioavailability enhancement procedures, optimum sprouting stage and potential genotypes. The present series experiment as 6th one was undertaken to find out the impacts of varying seed seedlings germination stages at 0, 3 and 6 days on observed estimates of protein contents in 12 potential genotypes of chickpea including Pusa-256 as standard (control) check.
We noticed erosion of reserved seed nutrients activating seedling growth and enhancing nutritional values, observed protein in the range of 18.96 to 28.69%, discovered 6 days sprouts giving highest digestible protein and identified genotypes BG-1092, ICC-11378, JG-74 as potential resources to be utilized in breeding programmes for harnessing their genetic potentials for enriching protein and other nutritional components.
Cicer arietinum, Chickpea protein, Seed germination duration, Sprouted seeds nutrition