DEVELOPING CHICKPEA AS AN INTERMEDIATE CROP: FROM PULSE CROP TO PROTEIN RESOURCE
The 5th International Legume Society Conference (ILS5) , Dubrovnik, Hırvatistan, 8 - 12 Haziran 2026, ss.114, (Özet Bildiri)
- Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
- Basıldığı Şehir: Dubrovnik
- Basıldığı Ülke: Hırvatistan
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.114
- Atatürk Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is the fourth most grown legume after soybean, peanut and
common bean. It is an important human protein source, specifically in developing
countries. It is rich in minerals, vitamins, and dietary fibre. Aquafaba is a valuable egg
replacement in a vegan diet. Chickpea thrives in the semi-arid subtropical climate of
Asia, with high heat and drought tolerance. Chickpea leaves have a high mineral and
protein content and have potential for plant protein products. If used as an intermediate
crop, farmers would benefit from opportunities to harvest and use it before sowing the
next main crop. Therefore, this project focuses on harvesting chickpea at vegetative
stage and evaluating biomass as a potential protein source in food and feed. To
understand the fractionation efficiency in various genotypes, a small-scale extraction
method has been developed, with only 10g of green biomass and was validated with
an established method across seven crop species. This small-scale method will be
utilized and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) will be conducted to identify
genetic loci influencing leaf protein extractability. Furthermore, intermediates in the
fractionation process will be evaluated for biogas potential. Additionally, imaging
followed by machine learning was used to study seed morphology traits, which showed
high accuracy in predicting seed weight, and is currently compared with phenolic
compounds and antioxidant capacity. Preliminary results indicated higher phenolic
content in Desi genotypes. Thus, in due course, the present project has the potential
to influence farmers' income-opportunities from growing chickpeas in South Asia