Chickpea

Commonly known as Bengal gram or garbanzo

Cicer arietinum (L.)

Leguminosae family

Self-pollinating, 2X, 2n=16, 1C=931Mbp

The third most important food legume globally, grown in over 40 countries representing all the continents. Over 95% of the area, production and consumption is in developing countries.

During 2002-2004, the global chickpea production was 8.0 million tons from an area of 10.1 million ha, giving an average productivity of 786 kg ha -1 . During the past 20 years (1985-2004), the global chickpea area increased by 7%, yield by 24% and production by 33%. Presently, the most important chickpea producing countries are India (64%), Turkey (8%), Pakistan (7%), Iran (3%), Mexico (3%), Myanmar (3%), Ethiopia (2%), Australia (2%), and Canada (1%).

Chickpea has one of the highest nutritional compositions of any dry edible legume and does not contain any specific major anti-nutritional factors. On an average, chickpea seed contains 23% protein, 64% total carbohydrates, 47% starch, 5% fat, 6% crude fiber, 6% soluble sugar and 3% ash. The mineral component is high in phosphorus (340 mg/100 g), calcium (190 mg/100 g), magnesium (140 mg/100g), iron (7 mg/100 g) and zinc (3 mg/100 g). Chickpea protein digestibility is the highest among the dry edible legumes. The lipid fraction is high in unsaturated fatty acids, primarily linoleic and oleic acids.

Chickpea is mainly used for human consumption and only a small proportion is used as feed. The kabuli type (white or cream seed coat) is generally used as whole grains, while desi type (colored seed coat) is used as whole seeds, de-hulled splits or flour. Chickpea is also known for its use in herbal medicine and cosmetics.

Chickpea meets 80% of its nitrogen requirement from symbiotic nitrogen fixation and can fix up to 140 kg N ha -1 from air. It leaves substantial amount of residual nitrogen behind for subsequent crops and adds much needed organic matter to maintain and improve soil health, long-term fertility and sustainability of the ecosystems.

Area, Production, Productivity

Chickpea, the world's third most important food legume, is currently grown on about 10 m ha worldwide, with 95% cultivation in the developing countries. During the past 30 years, the chickpea area has remained stagnant but the production has increased from 6.3 m t (during 1975) to 7.4 m t (during 2002) because of increase in productivity from 614 to 735 kg ha-1 during this period.

South and South-East Asia

  • This region contributes about 70% to the global chickpea production and India is the principal chickpea producing country with a share of 90% in this region. The chickpea area marginally declined from 9.1 m ha to 7.6 m ha from 1975 to 2003 (Figure 8). However, the production slightly increased from 5.4 to 5.5 m t and productivity from 600 to 731 kg ha-1 during this period. There was severe drought in several parts of India in the past 3 years (2001 to 2003) that led to reduction in chickpea area by 1.5 m ha.
  • There was a reduction in the chickpea area in northern India but it was largely compensated by increase in the chickpea area in central and southern India.
  • In Andhra Pradesh state of India, largely because of the adoption of Fusarium wilt resistant, short-duration varieties, such as kabuli type Swetha (ICCV 2) and KAK 2 (ICCV 92311); and desi type Kranthi (ICCC 37) and JG 11 (ICCV 93954)
    • There has been nearly a 5-fold increase in area (from 60,000 ha to 288,000 ha) and about a
    • 13-fold increase in production (from 28,000 t to 363,000 t) from 1993 to 2002.
    • Productivity increased from 468 kg ha-1 to 1274 kg ha-1 during this period.
    • Cultivation of kabuli types, which fetch up to two times the price of desi types, could be extended for the first time into tropical latitudes.
  • The variety ICCV 2, released as Yezin 3 in 2000, has brought a revolution in Myanmar. It covered half of the chickpea area in 2002. During 2000 to 2002:
    • The chickpea area increased from 129,000 ha to 195,000 ha.
    • The productivity increased from 650 kg ha-1 to 1,000 kg ha-1.
    • The production increased by 130%

Eastern Africa

New cultivars that combine early maturity and resistance to Fusarium wilt have been rapidly adapted in Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya. This led to increase in area from 0.24 m ha to 0.42 m ha and production from 0.14 to 0.27 m t from 1987 to 2003.

Cultivars released

Fifty cultivars based on improved germplasm developed by ICRISAT have been released in different countries - India (25), Bangladesh (6), Ethiopia (5), Sudan (4), Myanmar (3), Nepal (3), Pakistan (1), Kenya (1) Australia (1) and USA (1).