Nutritional Composition of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Grown in Winter Cropping Systems: A New Sustainable Legume Opportunity

Abstract

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the most widely produced and consumed pulse crops globally. The global rise in the consumption of chickpea and its food products indicates the need to expand chickpea production in non-traditional growing regions. Awareness of chemical and pesticide use on human health extends this interest to organic chickpea production. The objective of this study was to measure the adaptability and nutritional quality of 18 chickpea cultivars for agronomic traits (days to maturity, DTM; canopy height, CH; and 100-seed weight: HSW) and nutritional quality (total starch, TS; protein, PC; total fats, TFA; and protein digestibility, PDg) in conventional and organic winter cropping systems in South Carolina, United States. Significant genotypic effects were observed for CH and PC; significant location effects were found for all traits except TFA. Mean values for DTM (137), CP (39 cm), HSW (25.6 g), TS (55 g/100 g), PC (21.5 g/100 g), TFA (5.0 g/100 g), and PDg (84.2%) were promising with respect to agronomic adaptation and nutritional quality. This study demonstrates the potential of chickpeas as a new pulse crop for winter cropping systems in southern areas with warmer temperatures and humidity. Further studies are needed to include these tested cultivars in pulse breeding programs to develop winter-ready cultivars for southern cropping systems.