Chickpea (Cicer arietinum)
Patricia Henderson
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523
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- Overview
- History
- Production and use
- Conservation and breeding
- Recipes
- References
- Chapter information
1. OVERVIEW
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is the world’s second most important grain legume in terms of area and third most important by production. It is an annual, diploid, and predominantly self-pollinated species. Chickpeas are renowned for their high nutritional value and ability to contribute to soil health. While chickpeas are mainly grown in cooler seasons of arid and semi-arid regions, selective breeding has introduced traits allowing them to be resistant to heat stress and less favorable environmental conditions (Sedláková et al., 2021). As a staple crop across Southern Asia, chickpea plays an important part in the diets of millions of people (Merga et al., 2019), making the conservation of its genetic resources a major concern. Chickpeas have important culinary uses as dal in South Asian cuisine and hummus in the Middle East.
2. HISTORY
The cultivation of chickpeas dates back as early as the Bronze Age, around 5,000 years ago (CGIAR Genebank Platform, 2019). It is thought to have been domesticated within the Fertile Crescent, specifically southeast Turkey (CGIAR Genebank Platform, 2019). The cultivated species we grow today, Cicer arietinum, is a probable descendant of the wild species, Cicer reticulatum (Sedláková et al., 2021). There are several key differences between the two species, the most prominent being that cultivated chickpeas are larger in plant mass, have reduced seed dormancy, and have a decreased likelihood of pod shattering (Sedláková et al., 2021).
These traits are desirable in food crops because they allow easier seed collection, larger crop yield, and lower sensitivity to environmental conditions. For example, the wild relative C. reticulatum disperses its seeds through shattering of the pods, a common trait in non-cultivated plants. Shattering occurs when the pod ‘explodes’ in order to scatter the seeds, instead of staying together and being easier to harvest and resupply plantable seeds for the next planting season.
The lower need for vernalization and reduced seed dormancy, as well, allow for more flexibility as to when and where the domesticated species can be planted. In nature, seed dormancy helps align the time of germination with optimal environmental conditions. In cultivation, however, reduced dormancy is desirable because it allows for more flexible planting dates, a longer growing season, more uniform germination, and higher crop yield.
3. PRODUCTION AND USE
On a global scale, chickpeas are the second most important grain legume crop by area and third most important by production (CGIAR Genebank Platform, 2019). As of 2019, India was responsible for about 70% of chickpea production worldwide (FAO of the United Nations, 2022). Other major