Chickpea

Economic importance

Chickpea seeds contain 20–23% protein (up to 30%), 3.4–4.5% fat (up to 7%), 41–60% carbohydrates, and 2.7% minerals. The seeds are eaten fresh, boiled, or canned. The seeds have very good digestibility. In taste they correspond to peas, but cook less readily. They are also used as raw material for producing a coffee substitute. For food purposes, mainly varieties with white seeds are grown. Varieties with dark seeds are used for fodder purposes.

Stems and leaves contain organic acids (oxalic, malic, etc.), which makes the green and dry mass of chickpea unsuitable for fodder purposes, except as feed for sheep. However, unripe green pods and tender shoots are used as a vegetable.

Chickpea is convenient for mechanical crop care and harvesting. When ripening, chickpea pods do not shatter. In the steppe and dry-steppe zones of the country, its crops replace peas, which are not grown under these conditions. In the dry-steppe zone, it also surpasses grass pea in yield. Conversely, in the forest-steppe zone it is not cultivated because of high susceptibility to ascochyta blight; under these conditions its yield is noticeably lower than that of other grain legumes.

History of cultivation

The ancestors of the modern chickpea have not been found. A possible center of origin may be western Asia, in particular southeastern Turkey. Southwestern Asia, the Mediterranean, and Ethiopia have been identified as centers of diversity.

According to archaeological research, chickpea is one of the oldest agricultural crops. Chickpea was grown in Ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt.

Wild forms of chickpea are unknown, but large-seeded forms grow in the countries of the Mediterranean, and small-seeded forms in southwestern Asia.

Cultivation regions

Chickpea is the second most important legume crop in the world. Of the 7.9 million tonnes of world production in 1994, 70% was produced in India. Most production is in countries with developing economies. In world agriculture, chickpea sown area ranks third among grain legumes and amounts to 11–12 million ha, of which 8 million ha are in India. There are also small areas in Europe, for example in Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Italy, France, and Spain. Chickpea is also grown in Mexico.

World gross grain harvest is 8.3 million t, or 3.6% of the total grain-legume harvest. Average yield is 0.7–0.8 t/ha.

In the territory of the former USSR, it has been grown since ancient times in Central Asia and Transcaucasia. It is currently cultivated in the North Caucasus, the Central Chernozem zone, southeastern Russia and Western Siberia, as well as in the steppe regions of Ukraine. The sown area was approximately 30,000 ha.

There are no official statistics for chickpea in Russia. The estimated sown area is 20,000 ha, gross grain harvest is 20,000 t, and average yield is 1.0 t/ha.

Yield

Chickpea seed yield at the Novoannensky State Variety Testing Plot was 3.0 t/ha (1980), at the Pugachevsky State Variety Testing Plot in Saratov Oblast 3.2 t/ha (1980), in Bashkiria 3.4 t/ha, and at the Labinsky variety-testing plot in Krasnodar Krai 4.1 t/ha.

Under favorable conditions, yield is 3–4 t/ha; more often it is 1.5–2 t/ha.

Botanical description

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an annual bushy erect self-pollinating leguminous plant.

The root is taprooted.

The stem is strong, ribbed, branching, non-lodging, up to 60 cm tall.

The plant is covered with glandular hairs that secrete a caustic liquid consisting of malic acid and a small amount of oxalic acid. This liquid serves as protection against insect pests. Workers' outer clothing, especially footwear, can be destroyed by prolonged contact with these acids.

The leaves are odd-pinnate; the leaflets are serrated in shape.

Flowers are solitary, white, red-violet, greenish-yellow, blue, or pink. Cross-pollination is sometimes possible.

The fruit is a pod (legume). The pods are short, 2–3 cm long and 1–2 cm wide, oval, strongly pubescent, inflated, with 1–3 seeds of rounded, spherical, or slightly angular shape with a beak, resembling a ram's head. Sometimes pods may be empty.

Seed color is white, pink, brown, or black. Seeds require 4 months after anthesis to ripen. The weight of 1000 seeds is 100–600 g.

The size and shape of seeds vary considerably among varieties. In foreign practice, two seed forms are distinguished:

• macrocarpa or kabuli, with one or two large beige seeds per pod, characterized by a "ram's head" shape and a beak;
• microcarpa or desi produces two to three small, dark-colored, irregularly shaped seeds per pod.

In Russian practice, four subspecies of cultivated chickpea are distinguished, differing in seed shape and color; the most widespread in Russia is the subspecies ssp. eurasiaticum G. P. — a tall plant with medium-sized, rounded seeds with a small beak. The weight of 1000 seeds is 200–300 g.

Ecological requirements

Growing season

The growing season of small-seeded chickpea is 65–80 days; of large-seeded chickpea, 75–140 days, depending on the variety.

Seed swelling occurs slowly; this process requires a fairly large amount of water.

In wet weather, it is prone to fungal diseases; pollination and fruit set are slowed.

Crop rotation

Good predecessors in crop rotation for chickpea are winter crops, row crops, and fertilized spring grain crops.

In crop rotation, it is a good predecessor for spring grain crops, in cotton-growing areas for cotton, and in the south under sufficient moisture for winter crops.

Fertilization

The fertilizer system for chickpea is similar to fertilization of peas and grass pea.

It is responsive to phosphorus fertilizers, which are applied at a rate of 80–90 kg/ha of phosphorus. The combined use of nitragin and phosphorus-potassium fertilizers can increase grain yield by 0.5 t/ha.

On light soils, organic fertilizers are effective.

Tillage

Tillage for chickpea is similar to tillage for peas and grass pea.

Chickpea responds well to early deep autumn tillage to a depth of up to 30 cm.

Sowing

Crop care

After sowing, the soil is rolled. When weeds appear, pre-emergence harrowing is carried out across the rows. During the growing season, inter-row cultivation is carried out as necessary to control weeds.

Chickpea is considered resistant to damage by bruchid beetles, but it suffers from the chickpea fly, which is the main pest of this crop. In hot and dry weather, resistance to pests increases, so chemical plant protection measures are usually unnecessary.

To control weeds, the herbicide prometryn is used at a rate of 3 kg of preparation per 1 ha, applied to the soil before sowing or immediately after sowing before emergence.

Preparations against pests

Against pests typical of grain legumes (bean moth, pea bruchid, pea moth, aphids), spraying with the preparation Rogors-S is carried out during the growing season.

Harvesting

The pods of most chickpea varieties do not shatter when ripening; ripening occurs almost simultaneously; seeds are not broken during threshing. These properties of chickpea allow the use of a single-phase method for harvesting. Harvesting by this method begins when the plants turn yellow and the seeds harden, at a low cut.

In case of weed infestation of crops, two-phase harvesting is more advisable; it begins when most pods turn yellow (somewhat earlier than with the single-phase method). Grain combines for harvesting are converted in the same way as for harvesting other grain legumes.

Varieties

Zimistoni and Milyutinsky 6. The varieties are released in Uzbekistan.

Sovkhozny 14. The variety is released in Bashkiria, the Volga region, the North Caucasus, as well as in Ukraine and Moldova.

Yubileyny (1954). The variety is released in Saratov, Volgograd, and Orenburg Oblasts, as well as in Kazakhstan.

Volgogradsky 10 (1990).

Krasnokutsky 28 (1991), Krasnokutsky 36 (1993), Krasnokutsky 195 (1939), Krasnokutsky 123 (1982).

Privo 1 (1995).

Zavolzhsky (2000).

References

1. Vavilov P. P., Gritsenko V. V., Kuznetsov V. S., et al. (1986). Crop Production. Ed. by Vavilov P. P. 5th ed., revised and enlarged. Moscow: Agropromizdat.
2. Kolomeichenko V. V. (2007). Crop Production/Textbook. Moscow: Agrobiznescentr.
3. Niklyaev V. S. (2000). Fundamentals of Agricultural Production Technology. Agriculture and Crop Production. Moscow: Bylina.
4. Rubatzky, Vincent E., Yamaguchi, Mas. (1997). World vegetables: principles, production, and nutritive values. 2nd ed.