Chickpea

The chickpea or chick pea (Cicer arietinum) is an annual legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae,^[2][3] cultivated for its edible seeds. Its different types are variously known as gram^[4][5] or Bengal gram;^[5] chhola, chhana, chana, or channa; garbanzo^[5] or garbanzo bean; or Egyptian pea.^[4] It is one of the earliest cultivated legumes, the oldest archaeological evidence of which was found in Syria.^[6][7][8]

Quick Facts Chickpeas, Scientific classification ...

Chickpeas
Sprouted chickpea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Faboideae
Genus:	Cicer
Species:	C. arietinum
Binomial name
Cicer arietinum L.
Synonyms[1]
Cicer album hort. Cicer arientinium L. [Spelling variant] Cicer arientinum L. [Spelling variant] Cicer edessanum Bornm. Cicer grossum Salisb. Cicer nigrum hort. Cicer physodes Rchb. Cicer rotundum Alef. Cicer sativum Schkuhr Cicer sintenisii Bornm. Ononis crotalarioides M.E.Jones

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Chickpeas are high in protein. The chickpea is a key ingredient in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines, used in hummus, and, when soaked and coarsely ground with herbs and spices then made into patties and fried, falafel. As an important part of Indian cuisine, it is used in salads, soups and stews, and curry, in chana masala, and in other food products that contain channa (chickpeas). In 2022, India accounted for 75% of global chickpea production.^[9]

Chickpeas have been cultivated for at least ten thousand years.^[10] Cultivation spread from the Fertile Crescent eastward toward South Asia and into Europe through the Balkans.^[11][12] Historical linguistics have found ancestral words relating to chickpeas in the prehistoric Proto-Indo-European language family that evolved into the Indo-European languages.^[13] The Proto-Indo-European roots *kek- and *k'ik'- that denoted both 'pea' and 'oat' appeared in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of Eastern Europe between 4,500 and 2,500 BCE.^{[14]: 49 [15][16]} As speakers of the language became isolated from each other through the Indo-European migrations, the regional dialects diverged due to contact with other languages and dialects, and transformed into the known ancient Indo-European languages.^{[17]: 243–244} The Old Prussian word kekêrs, appearing between 1 and 100 CE, retained the 'pea' meaning of the word, but in most cases, the word came to be used to denote chickpeas.^[15] In Old Macedonian, the word κίκερροι appeared between 1000 and 400 BCE, and may have evolved from the Proto-Hellenic word *κικριός.^[15] In Ancient Rome, the Latin word cicer for chickpeas appeared around 700 BCE,^[15] and is probably derived from the word kickere used by the Pelasgians that inhabited north Greece before Greek-speaking tribes took over.^[18]: 13 The Old Armenian word siseŕn for chickpeas appeared before 400 CE.^[15] Over time, linkages between languages led to other descendant words, including the Albanian word qiqër, the Swedish word kikärt, the Slovak word cícer, the Estonian word kikerhernes, the Basque word txitxirio, and the Maltese word cicra.^[13]

The Latin word cicer evolved into words for chickpeas in nearly all extinct and living Romance languages, including the Mozarabic word chíchar; the Catalan words ceirons, cigró, cigronera, cigrons and ciurons; the Walloon words poes d' souke; the Old French words ceire and cice; and the Modern French terms cicérole, cicer tete-de-belier, and pois chiche.^[14]: 50 These words were borrowed by many geographically neighboring languages, such as the French term pois chiche becoming chich-pease in Old English.^[19][10] The word pease, like the modern words for wheat and corn, was both singular and plural, but since it had an "s" sound at the end of it which became associated with the plural form of nouns, English speakers by the end of the 17th century were starting to refer to a single grain of pease as a pea.^[10]

Other important Proto-Indo-European roots relating to chickpeas are *erəgw[h]-, eregw(h)o-, and erogw(h)o-, which were used to denote both the kernel of a legume and a pea.^[14]: 51 This root evolved into the Greek word erebinthos, mentioned in The Iliad in around 800 BCE and in Historia Plantarum by Theophrastus, written between 350 and 287 BCE.^[18]: 13 The Portuguese words ervanço and gravanço; the Asturian word garbanzu; the Galician word garavanzo; the French words garvanche, garvance, and garvane; and the Spanish word garbanzo are all related to the Greek term.^{[14]: 51 [18]: 13} In American English, the term garbanzo to refer to the chickpea appeared in writing as early as 1759,^[20]: 87 and the seed is also referred to as a garbanzo bean.^{[20]: 88 [21]: 34}

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is a member of the genus Cicer and the legume family, Fabaceae.^[22]: 231 Carl Linnaeus described it in the first edition of Species Plantarum in 1753, marking the first use of binomial nomenclature for the plant.^[21]: 11 Linnaeus classified the plant in the genus Cicer, which was the Latin term for chickpeas,^[21]: 2 crediting Joseph Pitton de Tournefort's 1694 publication Elemens de botanique, ou Methode pour connoitre les plantes which called it "Cicer arietinum".^[21]: 11 Tournefort himself repeated the names the plant that had been used since antiquity.^[21]: 11

The specific epithet arietinum is based on the shape of the seed resembling the head of a ram.^[18]: 3 In Ancient Greece, Theophrastus described one of the varieties of chickpea called "rams" in Historia Plantarum.^[23]: 173 The Roman writer on agriculture Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella wrote about chickpeas in the second book of De re rustica, published in about 64 CE,^[24]: xiv and said that the chickpea was called arietillum.^[24]: 169 Pliny the Elder expanded further in Naturalis Historia that this name was due to the seed's resemblance to the head of a ram.^[24]: 169

Cicer arietinum is the type species of the genus. ^[21]: 10 The wild species C. reticulatum is interfertile with C. arietinum and is considered to be the progenitor of the cultivated species.^[25] C. echinospermum is also closely related and can be hybridized with both C. reticulatum and C. arietinum, but generally produce infertile seeds.^[25]

The earliest well-preserved archaeobotanical evidence of chickpea outside its wild progenitor's natural distribution area comes from the site of Tell el-Kerkh, in modern Syria, dating back to the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic period around c.8400 BC.^[26]

Cicer reticulatum is the wild progenitor of chickpeas. This species currently grows only in southeast Turkey, where it is believed to have been domesticated. The domestication event can be dated to around 7000 BC. Domesticated chickpeas have been found at Pre-Pottery Neolithic B sites in Turkey and the Levant, namely at Çayönü, Hacilar, and Tell es-Sultan (Jericho).^[27] Chickpeas then spread to the Mediterranean region around 6000 BC and to South Asia (to Indus Valley) around 3000 BC.^[27]

In southern France, mesolithic layers in a cave at L'Abeurador, Hérault, have yielded chickpeas, carbon-dated to 6790±90 BC.^[28] They were found in the late Neolithic (about 3500 BC) sites at Thessaly, Kastanas, Lerna and Dimini, Greece.

Chickpeas are mentioned in Charlemagne's Capitulare de villis (about 800 AD) as cicer italicum, as grown in each imperial demesne. Albertus Magnus mentions red, white, and black varieties. The 17th-century botanist Nicholas Culpeper noted "chick-pease or cicers" are less "windy" than peas and more nourishing. Ancient people also associated chickpeas with Venus because they were said to offer medical uses such as increasing semen and milk production, inducing menstruation and urination, and helping to treat kidney stones.^[29] "White cicers" were thought to be especially strong and helpful.^[29]

In 1793, ground, roasted chickpeas were noted by a German writer as a substitute for coffee in Europe.^[30] In the First World War, they were grown for this use in some areas of Germany.^[31] They are still sometimes brewed instead of coffee.^[30]

This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2021)

The plant grows to 20–50 cm (8–20 in) high and has small, feathery leaves on either side of the stem. Chickpeas are a type of pulse, with one seedpod containing two or three peas. It has white flowers with blue, violet, or pink veins.

The most common variety of chickpea in South Asia, Ethiopia, Mexico, and Iran is the desi type, also called Bengal gram.^[34] It has small, dark seeds and a rough coat. It can be black, green or speckled. In Hindi, it is called desi chana 'native chickpea' or kala chana 'black chickpea', and in Assamese and Bengali, it is called boot or chholaa boot. It can be hulled and split to make chana dal, Kurukshetra Prasadam (channa laddu),^[35] and bootor daali.

Around the Mediterranean and in the Middle East, the most common variety of chickpea is the kabuli type. It is large and tan-colored, with a smooth coat. It was introduced to India in the 18th century from Afghanistan and is called kabuli chana in Hindi.^[36]

An uncommon black chickpea, ceci neri, is grown only in Apulia and Basilicata, in southern Italy. It is around the same size as garbanzo beans, larger and darker than the 'desi' variety.

In 2022, world production of chickpeas was 18 million tonnes, led by India with 75% of the global total (table).^[9]

Chickpeas are a nutrient-dense food, providing rich content (20% or higher of the Daily Value, DV) of protein, dietary fiber, folate, and certain dietary minerals, such as iron and phosphorus in a 100-gram reference amount (see adjacent nutrition table). Thiamin, vitamin B₆, magnesium, and zinc contents are moderate, providing 10–16% of the DV. Compared to reference levels established by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization, proteins in cooked and germinated chickpeas are rich in essential amino acids such as lysine, isoleucine, tryptophan, and total aromatic amino acids.^[49]

A 100-gram (3+1⁄2-ounce) reference serving of cooked chickpeas provides 686 kilojoules (164 kilocalories) of food energy. Cooked chickpeas are 60% water, 27% carbohydrates, 9% protein and 3% fat (table).^[46] Seventy-five percent of the fat content is unsaturated fatty acids for which linoleic acid comprises 43% of the total fat.^[50]

Agricultural yield for chickpeas is often based on genetic and phenotypic variability, which has recently been influenced by artificial selection.^[56] The uptake of macronutrients such as inorganic phosphorus or nitrogen is vital to the plant development of Cicer arietinum, commonly known as the perennial chickpea.^[57] Heat cultivation and macronutrient coupling are two relatively unknown methods used to increase the yield and size of the chickpea. Recent research has indicated that a combination of heat treatment along with the two vital macronutrients, phosphorus and nitrogen, are the most critical components to increasing the overall yield of Cicer arietinum.^[57]

Perennial chickpeas are a fundamental source of nutrition in animal feed as they are high-energy and protein sources for livestock. Unlike other food crops, the perennial chickpea can change its nutritional content in response to heat cultivation. Treating the chickpea with a constant heat source increases its protein content almost threefold.^[57] Consequently, the impact of heat cultivation affects the protein content of the chickpea itself and the ecosystem it supports. Increasing the height and size of chickpea plants involves using macronutrient fertilization with varying doses of inorganic phosphorus and nitrogen.^[58]

The level of phosphorus that a chickpea seed is exposed to during its lifecycle has a positive correlation relative to the height of the plant at full maturity.^[58] Increasing the levels of inorganic phosphorus at all doses incrementally increases the height of the chickpea plant. Thus, the seasonal changes in phosphorus soil content, as well as periods of drought that are known to be a native characteristic of the dry Middle-Eastern region where the chickpea is most commonly cultivated, have a strong effect on the growth of the plant itself. Plant yield is also affected by a combination of phosphorus nutrition and water supply, resulting in a 12% increase in crop yield.^[58]

Nitrogen nutrition is another factor that affects the yield of Cicer arietinum, although the application differs from other perennial crops regarding the levels administered on the plant. High doses of nitrogen inhibit the yield of the chickpea plant.^[59] Drought stress is a likely factor that inhibits nitrogen uptake and subsequent fixation in the roots of Cicer arietinum. The perennial chickpea's growth depends on the balance between nitrogen fixation and assimilation, which is also characteristic of many other agricultural plant types. The influence of drought stress, sowing date, and mineral nitrogen supply affect the plant's yield and size, with trials showing that Cicer arietinum differed from other plant species in its capacity to assimilate mineral nitrogen supply from the soil during drought stress.^[59] Additional minerals and micronutrients make the absorption process of nitrogen and phosphorus more available. Inorganic phosphate ions are generally attracted towards charged minerals such as iron and aluminium oxides.^[60]

Additionally, growth and yield are also limited by the micronutrients zinc and boron deficiencies in the soil. Boron-rich soil increased chickpea yield and size, while soil fertilization with zinc seemed to have no apparent effect on the chickpea yield.^[61]

Pathogens in chickpeas are the main cause of yield loss (up to 90%).^{[citation needed]} One example is the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceris, present in most of the major pulse crop-growing areas and causing regular yield damages between 10 and 15%.^[62] Many plant hosts produce heat shock protein 70s including C. arietinum.^[63] In response to F. o. ciceris Gupta et al., 2017 finds C. arietinum produces an orthologue of AtHSP70-1, an Arabidopsis HSP70.^[63]

From 1978 until 1995, the worldwide number of pathogens increased from 49 to 172, of which 35 were recorded in India. These pathogens originate from groups of bacteria, fungi, viruses, mycoplasma and nematodes and show a high genotypic variation. The most widely distributed pathogens are Ascochyta rabiei (35 countries), Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceris (32 countries) Uromyces ciceris-arietini (25 countries), bean leafroll virus (23 countries), and Macrophomina phaseolina (21 countries).^[64] Ascochyta disease emergence is favoured by wet weather; spores are carried to new plants by wind and water splash.^[65]

The stagnation of yield improvement over the last decades is linked to the susceptibility to pathogens.^[66] Research for yield improvement, such as an attempt to increase yield from 0.8 to 2.0 metric tons per hectare (0.32 to 0.80 long ton/acre; 0.36 to 0.89 short ton/acre) by breeding cold-resistant varieties, is always linked with pathogen-resistance breeding as pathogens such as Ascochyta rabiei and F. o. f.sp. ciceris flourish in conditions such as cold temperature. Research started selecting favourable genes for pathogen resistance and other traits through marker-assisted selection. This method is a promising sign for the future to achieve significant yield improvements.^[67]

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  Cicers farm
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  Lime green chickpeas
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  Black chickpeas

• Chickpeas in Nepal