Response of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Varieties to Seed Rate and Nipping in Irrigated Arid Western Plain Zone
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Date
2019
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COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE SWAMI KESHWANAND RAJASTHAN AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY, BIKANER
Abstract
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) popularly known as “Gram” or
“Bengal gram” is most important and premier pulse crop of India.
Chickpea belongs to the family of Leguminosae, is the third most
important pulse crop of the world and India is the largest producer country
(Gautam et al. 2016). Chickpea has been well recognized as a valuable
source of protein particularly in the developing countries where majority of
the population depends on the low-priced food for meeting their dietary
requirements. Gram is mainly used for human consumption as well as for
animal feeds. Chickpea grains provide about 18-22% protein, 4-10% fat
and 52-70% carbohydrate and traditionally consumed after processing into
various products. Its magnitude of significance is more among Indians due
to their diets reliance on vegetarian habitat besides limited buying capacity
of more than 200-250 million (27%) people living below the poverty line.
Like any other pulses, supplementation of chickpea with cereal-based
diets is considered one of the possible solutions to solve the problems
associated with protein energy malnutrition (PEM). The daily availability of
14 gm chickpea is source of approximately 2.3% (56 Kcal.) energy and
4.7% (2.7g) protein to Indian population besides being a major source of
Calcium and Iron (10-12%). It is not only an important source of protein in
human diets, but it also plays a significant role in maintaining soil fertility,
through biological nitrogen fixation (Ray et al. 2017).