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Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the second most widely grown legume crop after soybean. Here, we measured the macronutrients and performed proteome profiling of eight chickpea cultivars using two complementary protein extraction solvents. The total protein, starch, and soluble sugar contents significantly differ between cultivars, and we quantified 2434 and 1809 proteins, respectively, from urea- and water-based extraction solvents using a data-independent acquisition approach. The proteome-level differences can vary from 9-25% for the urea-extracted proteins, and the storage protein abundances significantly differed between the cultivars, where legumin content was detected as the highest, followed by vicilin and albumin. Fifty common allergens were detected from two extraction solvents, primarily overrepresented in chromosomes 3, 4, and 5. Integrated analysis revealed distinct subclusters of proteins and their associated pathways for total protein, lipids, and starch content. Overall, we established chickpea pan-proteome resources and provided insights into the key pathways that define the genotypes.

Chickpea is a major source of proteins and is considered the most economically vital food legume. Chickpea production is threatened by several abiotic and biotic factors worldwide. The main constraints limiting worldwide chickpea production are abiotic conditions such as drought, heat, salinity, and cold. It is clear that chickpea is treasured for its nutritive value, in particular its high protein content, and hence study of problems like drought, cold and salinity stresses are very important concerning chickpeas. In this regard, several physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms are reviewed to confer tolerance to abiotic stress. The most crippling economic losses in agriculture occur due to these abiotic stressors, which affect plants in many ways. All these abiotic stresses affect the water relations of the plant, both at the cellular level as well as the whole-plant level, causing both specific and non-specific reactions, damage and adaptation reactions. These stresses share common features. Breeding programs use a huge collection of over 100,000 chickpea accessions as their foundation. Significant advancements in conventional breeding, including mutagenesis, gene/allele introgression, and germplasm introduction, have been made through this method. Abiotic tolerance and yield component selection are made easier by creating unique DNA markers for the genus Cicer, which has been made possible by developments in high-throughput sequencing and molecular biology. Transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics have also made it possible to identify particular genes, proteins, and metabolites linked to chickpea tolerance to abiotic stress. Chickpea abiotic stress tolerance has been directly and potentially improved by biotechnological applications, which are covered by all 'Omics' approaches. It requires information on the abiotic stress response at the different molecular levels, which comprises gene expression analysis for metabolites or proteins and its impact on phenotype. Studies on chickpea genome-wide expression profiling have been conducted to determine important candidate genes and their regulatory networks for abiotic stress response. This study aimed to offer a detailed overview of the diverse 'Omics' approaches for resilience's to abiotic stresses on chickpea plants., Competing Interests: Declarations Conflict of interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Ready-to-eat snacks are very popular. However, they have a high glycemic index and lack proteins & micronutrients. This study prepared protein-enriched corn extrudates by adding chickpea grit supplements at varying concentrations (0-100 g kg -1 )., Results: The protein contents of 100 g kg -1 supplemented extrudates increased by 66.66% and dietary fiber contents increased by 48.02% in comparison with the control. Bulk density increased by 1.46 times. However, the expansion ratio, porosity, and water absorption index decreased significantly (P < 0.05). The health-promoting characteristics of the extrudates increased in comparison with the control sample, i.e., total phenolic content increasing by 17.84%, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) contents by 11.38%, and 2,2-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) content by 9.59%. Likewise, the potassium contents increased by 24.63% with the inclusion of 10% chickpea in corn extrudates. Sensory evaluation revealed that corn extrudates with up to 60 g kg -1 added chickpea achieved the highest acceptability among panelists., Conclusion: The addition of chickpea produced corn extrudates with higher protein and mineral content, which could mitigate malnutrition. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry., (© 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.)

Ascochyta blight caused by the ascomycete Ascochyta rabiei poses a major biotic threat to chickpea ( Cicer arietinum ) industries worldwide and incurs substantial costs to the Australian multimillion-dollar chickpea industry in both disease control and yield loss. The fungus was introduced to Australia in the 1970s from an unknown source population and, within a few decades, successfully established in all Australian agroecological chickpea-growing regions. Although genetically highly clonal, a broad range of phenotypic variation in terms of aggressiveness exists among the Australian A. rabiei isolates. More recently, highly aggressive isolates capable of causing severe disease symptoms on moderate to highly resistant chickpea cultivars have increased in frequency. To identify genetic loci potentially associated with A. rabiei aggressiveness on Australian chickpea cultivars, we performed deep genome sequencing of 230 isolates collected from a range of agroecological chickpea-growing regions between 2013 and 2020. Population genetic analyses using genome-wide SNP data identified three main clusters of genetically closely related isolates in Australia. Phylogenetic analyses showed that highly aggressive phenotypes developed multiple times independently throughout the phylogeny. The results point to a minor contribution of multiple genetic regions and most likely epigenomic variations to aggressiveness of A. rabiei isolates on Australian chickpea cultivars.

This study analyzed the diversity of major yield traits and nutritional components across 122 chickpea breeding lines, cultivars, and landraces of different origins. All parameters showed significant variations, with a variance ranging from 4.61% in days to maturity (DM) to 43.04% in oleic acid. Six accessions, including CP021, CP022, CP026, CP037, CP066, and CP109, outperformed in yield traits and nutritional value. Origin significantly affected all phenotypic traits except total fatty acid contents, with Indian and Ukrainian accessions demonstrating contrasting performances. Most traits, except for the number of seeds per pod (SPP), palmitic acid, and total fatty acid contents, differed significantly among breeding lines, cultivars, and landraces. Breeding lines were the earliest to flower and to mature with average days to flowering (DF) of 50.23 days and DM of 101.50 days. They also had the highest average SPP, number of pods per plant (PPP), total seeds per plant (TSPP), total protein, crude fiber, dietary fiber, linoleic acid, and linolenic acid contents making them preferable for high yield and nutrition. Hierarchical cluster analysis classified the chickpea accessions into seven clusters, showing significant variations in yield traits and nutritional components. Principal component and Pearson's correlation analyses indicated positive correlations between DM and DF, and between SPP, PPP, and TSPP. Nutritional components also displayed varying associations, with a notable negative correlation between oleic and linoleic acids, the two essential fatty acids. Overall, this study showed the diversity of key phenotypic traits in chickpea breeding lines, cultivars, and landraces of different origins. The significant effects of genotype and origin differences on these traits could be used as a basis for future metabolomics and genomics research.

This study investigated the antagonistic activity of Trichoderma asperellum against chickpea Fusarium wilt through in vitro and in vivo experiments. The dual culture test showed that Trichoderma had a significant inhibitory effect on the growth of the tested Fusarium isolates, with an inhibition rate ranging from 71.33% to 80.66%. The volatile and non-volatile metabolites produced by Trichoderma also showed antagonistic effects, with a growth inhibition rate ranging from 47.33% to 51.33% and a colonization rate ranging from 60% to 67%. In vivo experiments demonstrated that treating chickpea seeds with Trichoderma asperellum 48 h after inoculation with Fusarium significantly enhanced chickpea growth compared to seeds inoculated with Fusarium alone. Arial part length enhancement ranged between 69.3% and 92,19% while root length increased by 61,9% and 127%, this implied a significant improvement in biomass. These findings highlight Trichoderma 's potential in controlling chickpea Fusarium wilt and enhancing plant growth, making it an environmentally friendly method in sustainable agriculture and crop protection., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest in the publication., (© King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Background: The Cosmos sulphureus Cav. plant is studied for its high polyphenolic content with antioxidant properties. Its flowers, rich in phenolic acids, flavonoids, and tannins, hold promise as antioxidants in food preservation. The inclusion of these compounds in chickpea-based coatings with a previously studied preservative effect would be an excellent option as a food preservation method and microencapsulation addresses challenges like dispersion and degradation of polyphenols in the coating. The objective of this research was to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant activity of Cosmos sulphureus leaves, seed, and flower extracts and explore the protective effects of chickpea-based coatings containing microcapsules of flower polyphenolic extract on the chemical quality of stored roasted sunflower seeds during storage., Results: The ethanolic leaf extract exhibited the highest antiradical activity, followed by the aqueous flower extract. After a storage period of 15 days, at 40 °C, the chickpea-based coatings effectively delayed lipid oxidation in the roasted sunflowers seeds, and the inclusion of polyphenolic microcapsules with 0.01% extract (SMC 0.01%) in the coating significantly improved the protective effect. By day 15 of storage, SMC 0.01% showed comparable peroxide value, conjugated dienes, and linoleic acid content to samples containing the synthetic antioxidant BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene). Samples that only contained chickpea-based coating and coating with polyphenolic microcapsules with 0.005% extract exhibited significantly greater reduction in fatty acid content compared to the 0.01% SMC treatment., Conclusion: The chickpea-based coating with polyphenolic microcapsules demonstrated antioxidant activity akin to synthetic BHT, offering a promising biopackaging solution for lipid-rich foods like roasted sunflower seeds. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry., (© 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.)

Cicer arietinum or chickpea is an important and highly nutritious pulse, a source of complex carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, and minerals, considered non-allergenic, and non-GMO crop. Processing technologies play an important role in modifying some chickpea properties and thus increasing its nutritional and health benefits. Herein is summarized and compared the available data on nutritional and functional aspects caused by thermal, nonthermal, and combinations of treatments for chickpea processing. The study focuses on describing the processing conditions necessary to change chickpea matrices aiming to enhance compound bioavailability, reduce anti-nutritional factors and modify functional characteristics for industrial application in product development. Thermal and nonthermal treatments can modify nutrient composition and bioavailability in chickpea matrices. Thermal treatments, moist or dry, prevent microbial spoilage, increase product palatability and increase protein quality. Nonthermal treatments aim to shorten the processing time and use less energy and water sources. Compared to thermal treatments, they usually preserve organoleptic attributes and bioactive compounds in chickpea matrices. Some treatment combinations can increase the efficacy of single treatments. Combined treatments increase antioxidant concentration, protein digestibility and available starch contents. Finally, despite differences among their effects, single and combined treatments can improve the nutritional and physicochemical properties of chickpea matrices.

Chickpea is a field crop that is playing an emerging role in the provision of healthy and sustainable plant-based value-added ingredients for the food and nutraceutical industries. This article reviews the characteristics of chickpea (composition, health properties, and techno-functionality) and chickpea grain that influence their use as whole foods or ingredients in formulated food. It covers the exploitation of traditional and emerging processes for the conversion of chickpea into value-added differentiated food ingredients. The influence of processing on the composition, health-promoting properties, and techno-functionality of chickpea is discussed. Opportunities to tailor chickpea ingredients to facilitate their incorporation in traditional food applications and in the expanding plant-based meat alternative and dairy alternative markets are highlighted. The review includes an assessment of the possible uses of by-products of chickpea processing. Recommendations are provided for future research to build a sustainable industry using chickpea as a value-added ingredient. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry., (© 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.)

Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), a crucial plant hormone, regulates diverse physiological processes. This study aimed to isolate and characterize IAA-producing bacteria from the chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.) rhizosphere and evaluate their effects on plant growth. From 54 rhizosphere samples, 118 bacteria (designated as GAC) were isolated and screened for IAA production using a Salkowski colorimetric assay, and Bergey's manual was used for biochemical identification. Isolates were grown under various conditions and in vitro screened for their growth promotion traits. A PCR investigation was performed for IAA and nitrogen-fixing genes, and evaluated for greenhouse conditions. Among them, 27 isolates produced IAA, with eight high producers selected. Morphological and biochemical identification classified the six isolates as Pseudomonas and the other two as Bacillus . Optimal conditions for IAA production were observed at 500 μg/ml tryptophan, 35 °C, and pH 7.0. A 48-h incubation was ideal for IAA production, except for GAC-34 and GAC-73, which required 72 h. All the isolates achieved optimal IAA levels with tryptone and sucrose as nitrogen and carbon sources, respectively. Moreover, all isolates showed nitrogen fixation ability, and the six isolates exhibited phosphate solubilization. PCR confirmed the amplification of nifH (300 bp), nifK (360 bp), and ipdC (1170 bp) genes. Greenhouse experiments demonstrated that eight selected isolates significantly enhanced chickpea growth parameters (p < 0.001). These findings suggest that these IAA-producing bacteria have the potential to be used as biofertilizers to improve crop productivity, although further molecular identification and field studies are required., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper:Debebe Landina Lata reports financial support was provided by wolkite University, Department of Biotechnology. Debebe Landina Lata reports a relationship with 10.13039/501100022540Wolkite University that includes: employment. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Background: Soil pollution by petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) reduces yield by changing the physico-chemical properties of soil and plants due to PHCs' biotoxicity and persistence. Thus, removing PHCs from the soil is crucial for ecological sustainability. Microbes-assisted phytoremediation is an economical and eco-friendly solution. The current work aimed to develop and use bacterial consortia (BC) for PHCs degradation and plant growth enhancement in hydrocarbon-contaminated soil. Initially, the enriched microbial cultures (that were prepared from PHCs-contaminated soils from five distinct regions) were obtained via screening through microcosm experiments. Afterward, two best microbial cultures were tested for PHCs degradation under various temperature and pH ranges. After culture optimization, isolation and characterization of bacterial strains were done to construct two BC. These constructed BC were tested in a pot experiment for hydrocarbons degradation and chickpea growth in PHCs contaminated soil., Results: Findings revealed that PHCs exerted significant phytotoxic effects on chickpea growth and physiology when cultivated in PHCs contaminated soil, reducing agronomic and physiological traits by 13-29% and 12-43%, respectively. However, in the presence of BC, the phytotoxic impacts of PHCs on chickpea plants were reduced, resulting in up to 24 - 35% improvement in agronomic and physiological characteristics as compared to un-inoculated contaminated controls. Furthermore, the bacterial consortia boosted chickpea's nutritional absorption and antioxidant mechanism. Most importantly, chickpea plants phytoremediated 52% of the initial PHCs concentration; however, adding BC1 and BC2 with chickpea plants further increased this removal and remediated 74% and 80% of the initial PHCs concentration, respectively., Conclusion: In general, BC2 outperformed BC1 (with few exceptions) in promoting plant growth and PHCs elimination. Therefore, using multi-trait BC for PHCs degradation and plant growth improvement under PHCs stress may be an efficient and environmentally friendly strategy to deal with PHCs pollution and toxicity., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Introduction: The chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is well-known for having climate resilience and atmospheric nitrogen fixation ability. Global demand for nitrogenous fertilizer is predicted to increase by 1.4% annually, and the loss of billions of dollars in farm profit has drawn attention to the need for alternative sources of nitrogen. The ability of chickpea to obtain sufficient nitrogen via its symbiotic relationship with Mesorhizobium ciceri is of critical importance in determining the growth and production of chickpea., Methods: To support findings on nodule formation in chickpea and to map the genomic regions for nodulation, an association panel consisting of 271 genotypes, selected from the global chickpea germplasm including four checks at four locations, was evaluated, and data were recorded for nodulation and 12 yield-related traits. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted using phenotypic data and genotypic data was extracted from whole-genome resequencing data of chickpea by creating a hap map file consisting of 602,344 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the working set with best-fit models of association mapping., Results and Discussion: The GWAS panel was found to be structured with sufficient diversity among the genotypes. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis showed an LD decay value of 37.3 MB, indicating that SNPs within this distance behave as inheritance blocks. A total of 450 and 632 stringent marker-trait associations (MTAs) were identified from the BLINK and FarmCPU models, respectively, for all the traits under study. The 75 novel MTAs identified for nodulation traits were found to be stable. SNP annotations of associated markers were found to be related to various genes including a few auxins encoding as well as nod factor transporter genes. The identified significant MTAs, candidate genes, and associated markers have the potential for use in marker-assisted selection for developing high-nodulation cultivars after validation in the breeding populations., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The Reviewer VK declared a shared affiliation with the authors CS, RM, RS, GT, MI, NJ and RK to the handling editor at the time of the review. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Chandana, Mahto, Singh, Bhandari, Tandon, Singh, Kushwah, Lavanya, Iquebal, Jain, Kudapa, Upadhyaya, Hamwieh and Kumar.)

Chickpea is considered a rich source of nutrients, especially protein and dietary fibre. Besides, chickpea has potential benefits for the maintenance of gut health by improving intestinal integrity and serving as a source of energy for the gut microbiota. Moreover, chickpea consumption has been found to possess anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activity. On undergoing certain treatments like soaking, dehulling, roasting, and germination, the anti-nutritional profile of chickpeas can be reduced. Observing these benefits, this review explores the impact of chickpea and its components on maintaining gut health, emphasizing various benefits. Besides, the paper comprehensively covers the nutritional composition of chickpeas and factors influencing the bioavailability of its components concerning gut health. Additionally, it outlines the mechanisms through which chickpeas influence gastrointestinal health, providing valuable insights into complex processes and potential therapeutic applications. Furthermore, the review identifies contributions that can guide future research, encouraging further exploration of chickpeas' role in gut health and the development of interventions. As a result of the presented review, chickpeas can be used as an affordable source of food, which is nutritionally stable and prevents gastrointestinal diseases., Competing Interests: There is no conflict of interest between the authors., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Arsenic migration from soil to crop plants and subsequently human consumption of contaminated foodstuffs is a serious threat for society. In the present study, two oxidation states of selenium [Se(0) and Se(VI)] were used to check their efficacy towards amelioration of arsenic toxicity in chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.). Three different concentrations (1, 5, and 10 mg/L) of both oxidation states of selenium were applied separately and in combination against a fixed dose (10 mg/L) of arsenic [(As(V)] treatment on chickpea seedlings. Further, seed germination and seedling growth attributes, oxidative stress, and antioxidant defense under different treatments were analyzed. The changes in anatomical structures and arsenic accumulation in different parts of seedlings were also studied. Results revealed that increased generation of oxidative stress affected physiobiochemical parameters of seedlings and diminished plant growth and deformation in vascular bundles under arsenic stress. However, the combined application of Se with As showed overall improvement in seedling growth, reduced oxidative stress, and organized vascular bundles of chickpea seedlings as compared to arsenic stress alone. The arsenic uptake and accumulation in chickpea seedlings were also reduced upon supplementation of Se. The highest reduction of arsenic accumulation by 42 and 56 % in roots, while 47 and 58 % in shoots were recorded by the application of 10 mg/L of Se(0) and Se (VI) under As stress, respectively. Overall, Se(VI) showed much better performance towards the minimization of arsenic-induced phytotoxicity and arsenic accumulation as compared to Se(0). Therefore, this study explored the efficacy of different forms of selenium towards the mitigation of arsenic toxicity in plants., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

In the wake of rising earth temperature, chickpea crop production is haunted by the productivity crisis. Chickpea, a cool season legume manifests tolerance in several agro-physiological level, which is complex quantitative in nature, and regulated by multiple genes and genetic networks. Understanding the molecular genetic basis of this tolerance and identifying key regulators can leverage chickpea breeding against heat stress. This study employed a genomics-assisted breeding strategy utilizing multi-locus GWAS to identify 10 key genomic regions linked to traits contributing to heat stress tolerance in chickpea. These loci subsequently delineated few key candidates and hub regulatory genes, such as RAD23b, CIPK25, AAE19, CK1 and WRKY40, through integrated genomics, transcriptomics and interactive analyses. The differential transcript accumulation of these identified candidates in contrasting chickpea accessions suggests their potential role in heat stress tolerance. Differential ROS accumulation along with their scavengers' transcript abundance aligning with the expression of identified candidates in the contrasting chickpea accessions persuade their regulatory significance. Additionally, their functional significance is ascertained by heterologous expression and subsequent heat stress screening. The high confidence genomic loci and the superior genes and natural alleles delineated here has great potential for swift genomic interventions to enhance heat resilience and yield stability in chickpea., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Chickpea is an important food legume that usually undergoes various processing treatments to enhance nutritional value and functional properties. This study aimed to investigate the effects of different cooking conditions on physicochemical, structural, and functional properties of chickpea, especially its protein macromolecules. Kabuli chickpea seeds were processed by water cooking at different temperatures (63, 79, 88, and 96°C), followed by evaluating flour solubility, water-holding capacity (WHC), pasting property, as well as the total protein profile and fractionated protein distributions. Cooking treatments significantly decreased flour solubility (from 39.45 to 25.21 g/100 g flour) and pasting viscosity (peak and final viscosities, from 1081 to 300.5 cP and 1323 to 532 cP, respectively), while increasing WHC (from 0.862 to 1.144 g H 2 O/g flour) of chickpea flour (p < 0.05). These behaviors were enhanced by increasing cooking temperature. Meanwhile, cooking induced a significant change of chickpea proteins, modifying the albumin- and globulin-like fractions of chickpea protein to display glutelin-like behavior. The current study provides potential approaches for manipulating chickpea flour functionalities (e.g., solubility, viscosity, and WHC) to address the process and product challenges and favor product innovation., (© 2024 Institute of Food Technologists.)

Enhancing the marker repository and the development of breeder-friendly markers in chickpeas is important in relation to chickpea genomics-assisted breeding applications. Insertion-deletion (InDel) markers are widely distributed across genomes and easily observed with specifically designed primers, leading to less time, cost, and labor requirements. In light of this, the present study focused on the identification and development of InDel markers through the use of double-digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (ddRADSeq) data from 20 chickpea accessions. Bioinformatic analysis identified 20,700 InDel sites, including 15,031 (72.61%) deletions and 5669 (27.39%) insertions, among the chickpea accessions. The InDel markers ranged from 1 to 25 bp in length, while single-nucleotide-length InDel markers were found to represent the majority of the InDel sites and account for 79% of the total InDel markers. However, we focused on InDel markers wherein the length was greater than a single nucleotide to avoid any read or alignment errors. Among all of the InDel markers, 96.1% were less than 10 bp, 3.6% were between 10 and 20 bp, and 0.3% were more than 20 bp in length. We examined the InDel markers that were 10 bp and longer for the development of InDel markers based on a consideration of the genomic distribution and low-cost genotyping with agarose gels. A total of 29 InDel regions were selected, and primers were successfully designed to evaluate their efficiency. Annotation analysis of the InDel markers revealed them to be found with the highest frequency in the intergenic regions (82.76%), followed by the introns (6.90%), coding sequences (6.90%), and exons (3.45%). Genetic diversity analysis demonstrated that the polymorphic information content of the markers varied from 0.09 to 0.37, with an average of 0.20. Taken together, these results showed the efficiency of InDel marker development for chickpea genetic and genomic studies using the ddRADSeq method. The identified markers might prove valuable for chickpea breeders.

The chickpea plays a significant role in global agriculture and occupies an increasing share in the human diet. The main aim of the research was to develop a model for the prediction of two chickpea productivity traits in the available dataset. Genomic data for accessions were encoded in Artificial Image Objects, and a model for the thousand-seed weight (TSW) and number of seeds per plant (SNpP) prediction was constructed using a Convolutional Neural Network, dictionary learning and sparse coding for feature extraction, and extreme gradient boosting for regression. The model was capable of predicting both traits with an acceptable accuracy of 84-85%. The most important factors for model solution were identified using the dense regression attention maps method. The SNPs important for the SNpP and TSW traits were found in 34 and 49 genes, respectively. Genomic prediction with a constructed model can help breeding programs harness genotypic and phenotypic diversity to more effectively produce varieties with a desired phenotype.

Chickpea is rich in protein and has been demonstrated to possess hypoglycaemic effects. However, the specific bioactive ingredients and mechanisms underlying their hypoglycaemic effects remain unclear. In this study, enzymatic hydrolysis and gel permeation chromatography were used to extract chickpea bioactive peptide (CBP) from chickpea protein. One of the products, CBP-75-3, was found to inhibit α-glucosidase (GAA) activity and significantly increase the viability of insulin resistant (IR) cells. Moreover, CBP-75-3 significantly increased the rate of glucose consumption and glycogen synthesis in IR-HepG2 cells. Moreover, CBP-75-3 decreased the levels of malondialdehyde and increased the levels of superoxide dismutase, glutathione, and glutathione peroxidase. Subsequently, 29 novel bioactive peptides in CBP-75-3 were identified by LC‒MS/MS, and the potential hypoglycaemic targets of these novel bioactive peptides were investigated using molecular docking. Based on the results, the residues of the novel bioactive peptides interact with GAA through hydrogen bonding (especially LLR, FH, RQLPR, KGF and NFQ by binding to the substrate binding pocket or the active centre of GAA), thereby inhibiting GAA activity and laying a foundation for its hypoglycaemic activity. In short, the novel bioactive peptides isolated and identified from chickpea can effectively exert hypoglycaemic effects and increase the antioxidant capacity of IR-HepG2 cells. This study reveals that CBP-75-3, a natural hypoglycaemic ingredient, has potential for applications in functional foods and provides a theoretical basis for the development and application of CBP in the future., Competing Interests: Declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

The phosphate solubilizing properties of Lysinibacillus macroides ST-30, Pseudomonas pelleroniana N-26, and Bacillus cereus ST-6 were tested for the chickpea crop of the Tarai region of Uttarakhand. These microbially inoculated plants have shown significant ( p  > 0.05) improvement in the plant health and crop health parameters, viz. , root length, shoot length, fresh weight, dry weight, nodule number, nodule fresh weight, nodule dry weight, chlorophyll content, and nitrate reductase. The highest shoot length (46.10 cm) and chlorophyll content (0.57 mg g -1 fresh weight) were observed in ST-30 at 75 DAS with 20 kg P 2 O 5 /ha. Similarly, for plant P content, an increase of 90.12% over control was recorded in the same treatment. Treatments consisting of Lysinibacillus macroides ST-30 along with 20 kg/ha P 2 O 5 were found to be most suitable as phosphatic fertilizer. Conclusively, sustainable agriculture practices in the Tarai as well as the field region may be developed based on a strategy of exploring microbial inoculants from the pristine region of the Western Himalayas. The presence and abundance of bacterial inoculants were confirmed through qRT-PCT. We conclude that the effective plant growth-promoting bacterium Lysinibacillus macroides ST-30 broadens the spectrum of phosphate solubilizers available for field applications and might be used together with 20 Kg/ha P 2 O 5 ., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Tomer, Khati, Suyal, Perveen, Khan and Barasarathi.)

Bean leafroll virus (BLRV; Bean leafroll virus), a single-stranded RNA virus in the genus Luteovirus, is phloem-limited and primarily transmitted by aphids in a non-propagative, persistent manner (Rashed et al., 2018; Kidanemariam and Abraham, 2023). BLRV infects various legumes and has been reported from major pulse-growing regions worldwide (Agindotan et al., 2019) but not in the Canadian Prairies. Its impact on crop yield varies with plant and virus genotypes and the timing of infection. Some pea fields have experienced disease rates of up to 80% (Clement et al., 2020; Hampton, 1983). Throughout the 2022 growing season (June and July), pulse fields from across Saskatchewan were randomly selected and surveyed, and symptomatic plants demonstrating leaf yellowing and chlorosis were collected and stored at -80°C before processing. Observed symptoms included necrotic spots, chlorosis, leaf mottling, leaf rolling in peas, severe bright yellowing, and leaf marginal necrosis in chickpeas. BLRV detection was performed on 35 leaves of the collected samples using both Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). ELISA testing followed the manufacturer's protocol using a commercial kit (Nano Diagnostics, San Jose, CA, USA). Total RNAs were extracted from the frozen samples using TRIzol (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA). For the detection of the diverse BLRV isolates, sequences of various isolates were aligned and primers were specifically designed in-house, targeting the virus's highly conserved regions on the GP3 and 3' UTR (see Supplementary material). Additional primers were also designed targeting coat protein (CP) coding regions which were previously used for BLRV detection (Agindotan et al. 2019; Larsen & Webster 1999). PCR testing of 35 symptomatic samples including 12 pea plants and 23 chickpea plants, identified the presence of BLRV in two symptomatic samples, one each from a field pea (Pisum sativum L. var. CDC Inca) and a desi-type chickpea (Cicer arietinum L. var. CDC Leader). The infected pea and chickpea samples were found in Saskatoon, SK (Coordinates: 52°9'27''N,106°34'14"W), and the Leader area, southwest of Saskatchewan, SK (Coordinates: 50°52'14"N,109°23'11"W), respectively. PCR amplicons were purified and sent for Sanger sequencing. The reads were assembled to generate 1666 and 323 nucleotides from pea and chickpea, respectively, with a minimum of 2X coverage. Partial nucleotide sequences of the BLRV isolates obtained from pea (PsSK1) and chickpea (CaSK1) (GenBank accession numbers: PP240429, PP266588) showed (1521/1574 bp) 96.63% and (316/323 bp) 97.83% similarity with a BLRV reference isolate sequence (NC&#95;003369) and to an isolate from Argentina (KR261610) which was reported on Medicago sativa L. with (1555/1574 bp) 98.79% and (319/323 bp) 98.76% similarity, correspondingly. Both infected samples were confirmed to be BLRV-infected through the ELISA and exhibited a high interaction ratio (PsSK1: 0.319 and CsSK1: 0.245) compared to a positive control (0.292) after 30 minutes as measured at 450 nm. This is the first report of BLRV in the pulse-growing region of the Canadian Prairies. In Saskatchewan, there is no history of BLRV despite the large amount of area growing susceptible crops. Therefore, the survey project that this study was part of was not intended to evaluate the severity of BLRV but rather to determine if there is any virus present that might have been overlooked. The samples were therefore taken randomly, with a focus on the number of fields and geographic coverage rather than focusing on multiple plants per field. Moreover, fields were not chosen based on symptoms but rather at random. Although, plants within fields were chosen because they displayed symptoms. Typically, a disease note includes estimates of severity and potential risk; however, that is not possible for this study. Rather, the fact that it was detected indicates a greater risk than previously perceived, since it was assumed that BLRV was not present. These findings highlight the need for further research on the virus's current status, its impact on crop production, and the resistance of pulse varieties grown in Saskatchewan.

Legume plants form symbiotic relationships with rhizobia, which allow plants to utilize atmospheric nitrogen as a nutrient. This symbiosis is initiated by secretion of specific signaling metabolites from the roots, which induce the expression of nod genes in rhizobia. These metabolites are called nod gene inducers (NGIs), and various flavonoids have been found to act as NGIs. However, NGIs of chickpea, the second major pulse crop, remain elusive. We conducted untargeted metabolome analysis of chickpea root exudates to explore metabolites with increased secretion under nitrogen deficiency. Principal component (PC) analysis showed a clear difference between nitrogen deficiency and control, with PC1 alone accounting for 37.5% of the variance. The intensity of two features with the highest PC1 loading values significantly increased under nitrogen deficiency; two prominent peaks were identified as O -methylated isoflavones, pratensein and biochanin A. RNA-seq analysis showed that they induce nodABC gene expression in the Mesorhizobium ciceri symbiont, suggesting that pratensein and biochanin A are chickpea NGIs. Pratensein applied concurrently with M. ciceri at sowing promoted chickpea nodulation. These results demonstrate that pratensein and biochanin A are chickpea NGIs, and pratensein can be useful for increasing nodulation efficiency in chickpea production.

Background: Commercial/chemical pesticides are available to control Fusarium wilt of chickpea, but these antifungals have numerous environmental and human health hazards. Amongst various organic alternatives, use of antagonistic fungi like Trichoderma , is the most promising option. Although, Trichoderma spp. are known to control Fusarium wilt in chickpea but there are no reports that indicate the biocontrol efficacy of indigenous Trichoderma spp. against the local pathogen, in relation to environmental conditions., Methods: In the present study, biological control activity of Trichoderma species formulations viz., Trichoderma asperellum , Trichoderma harzianum (strain 1), and Trichoderma harzianum (strain 2), either singly or in the form of consortia, was investigated against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris , the cause of Fusarium wilt in chickpea, in multiyear pot trials under open field conditions. The antagonistic effect of Trichoderma spp. was first evaluated in in vitro dual culture experiments. Then the effects of Trichoderma as well as F. oxysporum , were investigated on the morphological parameters, disease incidence (DI), and disease severity (DS) of chickpea plants grown in pots., Results: In dual culture experiments, all the Trichoderma species effectively reduced the mycelial growth of F. oxysporum . T. asperellum , T. harzianum (strain 1), and T. harzianum (strain 2) declined the mycelial growth of F. oxysporum by 37.6%, 40%, and 42%. In open field pot trials, the infestation of F. oxysporum in chickpea plants significantly reduced the morphological growth of chickpea. However, the application of T. asperellum , T. harzianum (strain 1), and T. harzianum (strain 2), either singly or in the form of consortia, significantly overcome the deleterious effects of the pathogen, thereby resulted in lower DI (22.2% and 11.1%) and DS (86% and 92%), and ultimately improved the shoot length, shoot fresh weight and shoot dry weight by 69% and 72%, 67% and 73%, 68% and 75%, during the years 1 and 2, respectively, in comparison with infested control. The present study concludes the usefulness and efficacy of Trichoderma species in controlling wilt disease of chickpea plants under variable weather conditions., Competing Interests: The authors declare there are no competing interests., (©2024 Chohan et al.)

Introduction: Ascochyta blight (AB) caused by the necrotrophic fungus Ascochyta rabiei is one of the most significant diseases that limit the production of chickpea. Understanding the metabolic mechanisms underlying chickpea- A.rabiei interactions will provide important clues to develop novel approaches to manage this disease., Methods: We performed metabolite profiling of the aerial tissue (leaf and stem) of two chickpea accessions comprising a moderately resistant breeding line (CICA1841) and a highly susceptible cultivar (Kyabra) in response to one of the highly aggressive Australian A. rabiei isolates TR9571 via non-targeted metabolomics analysis using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry., Results: The results revealed resistance and susceptibility-associated constitutive metabolites for example the moderately resistant breeding line had a higher mass abundance of ferulic acid while the levels of catechins, phthalic acid, and nicotinic acid were high in the susceptible cultivar. Further, the host-pathogen interaction resulted in the altered levels of various metabolites (induced and suppressed), especially in the susceptible cultivar revealing a possible reason for susceptibility against A.r abiei . Noticeably, the mass abundance of salicylic acid was induced in the aerial tissue of the susceptible cultivar after fungus colonization, while methyl jasmonate (MeJA) was suppressed, elucidating the key role of phytohormones in chickpea- A. rabiei interaction. Many differential metabolites in flavonoid biosynthesis, phenylalanine, Aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, pentose and glucuronate interconversions, arginine biosynthesis, valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis, and alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism pathways were up- and down-regulated showing the involvement of these metabolic pathways in chickpea- A. rabiei interaction., Discussion: Taken together, this study highlights the chickpea - A. rabiei interaction at a metabolite level and shows how A. rabiei differentially alters the metabolite profile of moderately resistant and susceptible chickpea accessions and is probably exploiting the chickpea defense pathways in its favour., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Raman, Morris, Sharma, Hobson and Moore.)

Chickpea is a crucial leguminous crop and India is the leading producer, with an average yield of 1.18 tons/ha. It is renowned for its specific nodulation with rhizobia. Despite its significance, studies on chickpea-nodulating rhizobia often focused on small-scale investigations within restricted geographical areas. This study delves into the population, genetic diversity, and symbiotic efficiency of chickpea-nodulating rhizobia in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India. The study revealed a low population of chickpea rhizobia (ranging from 11 to 565 cells/g dry soil) across the examined area. Only three samples exhibited a population exceeding 300 cells/g, emphasizing the potential need for inoculation of rhizobia with efficient and competitive strains. Correlation analysis highlighted a significant positive correlation between rhizobial population and organic carbon content, among various soil parameters like pH, electrical conductivity, available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and organic carbon content. Among the 79 presumptive rhizobia isolated from 24 IGP locations, 61 successfully nodulated chickpea cultivar Pusa 362. 16S rRNA gene sequencing categorized 54 isolates as Mesorhizobium, four as Rhizobium, and three as Ensifer. Genetic diversity assessed by BOX-PCR revealed sixteen distinct banding patterns, underscoring substantial variability among the strains. The strains exhibited plant growth-promoting activities, salt tolerance up to 3% NaCl, and pH tolerance between 4 and 10. Six symbiotically efficient strains were identified based on their positive impact on nodulation and dry biomass. This study provides crucial insights into the diversity, genetic makeup, and symbiotic efficiency of chickpea rhizobia in the IGP, supporting the potential use of indigenous rhizobia for sustainable chickpea productivity in the region., (© 2024. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Sociedade Brasileira de Microbiologia.)

Background: Chickpea is a key pulse crop grown in the spring in dryland regions. The cold resistance potential of chickpeas allows for the development of genotypes with varying sowing dates to take advantage of autumn and winter rainfall, particularly in dryland regions. In this study, we assessed grain yield, plant height, 100-seed weight, days to maturity, and days to flowering of 17 chickpea genotypes in five autumn-sown dryland regions from 2019 to 2021. Additionally, the response of selected chickpea genotypes to cold stress was examined at temperatures of -4 °C, 4 °C, and 22 °C by analyzing biochemical enzymes., Results: Mixed linear model of ANOVA revealed a significant genotype × environment interaction for all traits measured, indicating varying reactions of genotypes across test environments. This study reported low estimates of broad-sense heritability for days to flowering (0.34), days to maturity (0.13), and grain yield (0.08). Plant height and seed weight exhibited the highest heritability, with genotypic selection accuracies of 0.73 and 0.92, respectively. Moreover, partial least square regression highlighted the impactful role of rainfall during all months except of October, November, and February on grain yield and its interaction with environments in autumn-planted chickpeas. Among the genotypes studied, G9, G10, and G17 emerged as superior based on stability parameters and grain yield. In particular, genotype G9 stood out as a promising genotype for dryland regions, considering both MTSI and genotype by yield*trait aproaches. The cold assay indicated that - 4 °C is crucial for distinguishing between susceptible and resistant genotypes. The results showed the important role of the enzymes CAT and GPX in contributing to the cold tolerance of genotype G9 in autumn-sown chickpeas., Conclusions: Significant G×E for agro-morphological traits of chickpea shows prerequisite for multi-trial analysis. Chickpea`s direct root system cause that monthly rainfall during plant establishment has no critical role in its yield interaction with dryland environment. Considering the importance of agro-morphological traits and their direct and indirect effects on grain yield, the utilization of multiple-trait stability approches is propose. Evaluation of chickpea germplasm reaction against cold stress is necessary for autumn-sowing. Finally, autumn sowing of genotype FLIP 10-128 C in dryland conditions can led to significant crop performance., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Aquafaba is the residual water from cooking chickpea in water. It has a high gelling ability, allowing it to create stable gels. However, those functional properties depend on the legume composition, genotype, cooking time, pressure, and temperature. This study aimed to evaluate the different processes for obtaining aquafaba and compare their nutritional composition and technological characteristics using a systematic review. The authors performed the systematic review by performing specific search strategies for Scopus, Web of Science, Pubmed, Lilacs, Google Scholar, and ProQuest. A total of 17 studies were analyzed. Of them, 17.64% (n = 3) used the wastewater from canned chickpeas, 17.64% (n = 3) compared the wastewater of canned chickpeas and dry grains, and 58.82% (n = 10) used dry chickpeas. Studies used different methods to analyze the protein content. The most used (n = 5) was the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). The aquafaba presented carbohydrates at 2.03-2.59 g/100ml; protein at 0.0.8-2.8 g/100ml; and fat at 0.07-0.1 g/100ml. In general, preparing aquafaba followed: soaking (8-10 h at 4 °C-1 chickpea: 4 water), pressure cooking (30 min-2 chickpea: 3 water), and refrigerating (24h/4 °C). In general, the results showed the following steps to prepare aquafaba: soaking for 8-10 h at 4 °C at the proportion of 1:4 (chickpea:water), pressure cooking for 30 min in the proportion of 2:3 (chickpea: water), and refrigerating 24 h/4 °C. These procedures in a homemade aquafaba presented the best results, considering foam development and higher stability. The aquafaba from canned chickpeas has a higher foam-ability and lower emulsion properties than homemade cooking aquafaba., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-023-05920-y., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s) 2024.)

This study aimed to determine the impact of supplementation with probiotically fermented chickpea (Cicer arietinum L) seeds on the quality parameters and functional characteristics of wheat bread. The addition of chickpea seeds caused significant changes in the chemical composition of the control wheat bread. The legume-supplemented products exhibited higher values of a* and b* color parameters and higher hardness after 24 h of storage than the control. The application of fermented or unfermented chickpeas contributed to an increase in total polyphenol and flavonoid contents, iron chelating capacity, and antioxidant properties of the final product. The variant containing unfermented seeds had the highest riboflavin content (29.53 ± 1.11 µg/100 g d.w.), Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (227.02 ± 7.29 µmol·L -1 TX/100 g d.w.), and free radical scavenging activity (71.37 ± 1.30 % DPPH inhibition). The results of this preliminary research have practical importance in the production of innovative bakery products with potential properties of functional food., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The sustainable management of large amounts of fly ash (FA) is a concern for researchers, and we aim to determine the FA application in plant development and nematicidal activity in the current study. A pot study is therefore performed to assess the effects of adding different, FA-concentrations to soil (w/w) on the infection of chickpea plants with the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita. Sequence characteristic amplified region (SCAR) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region-based-markers were used to molecularly confirm M. incognita. With better plant growth and chickpea yield performance, FA enhanced the nutritious components of the soil. When compared with untreated, uninoculated control (UUC) plants, the inoculation of M. incognita dramatically reduced chickpea plant growth, yield biomass, and metabolism. The findings showed that the potential of FA to lessen the root-knot nematode illness in respect of galls, egg-masses, and reproductive attributes may be used to explain the mitigating effect of FA. Fascinatingly, compared with the untreated, inoculated control (UIC) plants, the FA treatment, primarily at 20%, considerably (p ≤ 0.05) boosted plant growth, yield biomass, and pigment content. Additionally, when the amounts of FA rose, the activity of antioxidants like superoxide dismutase-SOD, catalase-CAT, and peroxidase-POX as well as osmo-protectants like proline gradually increased. Therefore, our findings imply that 20% FA can be successfully applied as a potential strategy to increase biomass yield and plant growth while simultaneously reducing M. incognita infection in chickpea plants., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

High nutritional value and antioxidant properties make chickpea flour a valuable substitute for wheat flour, although its texture-forming abilities are different. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of increasing the content of bioactive compounds and antioxidant properties of shortbread cookies by simple partial or complete replacement of wheat flour with chickpea flour without considerable changes in texture, color, sensory properties, or acceptability. Shortbread cookies were made from wheat flour (0% of chickpea flour), wheat flour and chickpea flour (replacement of 25%, 50%, and 75%), and chickpea flour (100%). Generally, the increase in chickpea flour share resulted in an increase in protein, fat, and ash content, as well as antioxidant properties. Polyphenol content, flavonoid content, and antioxidant activities increased three- to sixfold in shortbread cookies containing chickpea flour in comparison to wheat cookies. The level of proteins increased about 50% and the antioxidant properties were three to six times higher than in wheat cookies. Cookies containing up to 75% chickpea flour were assessed as very good or good quality, while only cookies without wheat flour were assessed as sufficient quality. It could be concluded that part of the wheat flour content in shortbread cookies can be replaced by chickpea flour. Application of a 25% proportion of chickpea flour increases physicochemical properties without changes in sensory properties. Sensory quality was up to 75% lower, but antioxidant properties were increased. However, complete replacement of wheat flour in shortbread cookies without changing the recipe resulted in a product of slightly lower sensory quality.

The growth-regulating factor (GRF) and GRF-interacting factor (GIF) families encode plant-specific transcription factors and play vital roles in plant development and stress response processes. Although GRF and GIF genes have been identified in various plant species, there have been no reports of the analysis and identification of the GRF and GIF transcription factor families in chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan). The present study identified seven CaGRFs, eleven CcGRFs, four CaGIFs, and four CcGIFs. The identified proteins were grouped into eight and three clades for GRFs and GIFs, respectively based on their phylogenetic relationships. A comprehensive in-silico analysis was performed to determine chromosomal location, sub-cellular localization, and types of regulatory elements present in the putative promoter region. Synteny analysis revealed that GRF and GIF genes showed diploid-polyploid topology in pigeonpea, but not in chickpea. Tissue-specific expression data at the vegetative and reproductive stages of the plant showed that GRFs and GIFs were strongly expressed in tissues like embryos, pods, and seeds, indicating that GRFs and GIFs play vital roles in plant growth and development. This research characterized GRF and GIF families and hints at their primary roles in the chickpea and pigeonpea growth and developmental process. Our findings provide potential gene resources and vital information on GRF and GIF gene families in chickpea and pigeonpea, which will help further understand the regulatory role of these gene families in plant growth and development., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.) is an important legume crop worldwide. An emerging disease, basal stem rot with obvious wilt symptoms, was observed in the upper part of chickpea plants during the disease survey in Qiubei County of Yunnan Province. Three fungal isolates (ZD36-1, ZD36-2, and ZD36-3) were obtained from the diseased tissue of chickpea plants collected from the field. Those isolates were morphologically found to be similar to Diaporthe aspalathi . Molecular sequence analyses of multiple gene regions (ITS, tef1 , tub2 , cal , and his3 ) indicated that the three isolates showed a high identity with D. aspalathi . Pathogenicity and host range tests of the isolates were performed on the original host chickpea and eight other legume crops. The isolates were strongly pathogenic to chickpea and appeared highly pathogenic to soybean, cowpea, and mung bean; moderated or mild pathogenic to adzuki bean and common bean; however, the isolates did not cause symptoms on grass pea ( Lathyrus sativus ). Diaporthe aspalathi was previously reported as a main pathogen causing the southern stem canker in soybean. To our knowledge, this is the first report of D. aspalathi inducing basal stem rot on chickpea worldwide.

Background: Water deficiency stress reduces yield in grain legumes, primarily due to a decrease in the pods number. Melatonin (ML) and 24-epibrassinolide (EBL) are recognized for their hormone-like properties that improve plant tolerance to abiotic stresses. This study aimed to assess the impact of different concentrations of ML (0, 100, and 200 µM) and EBL (0, 3, and 6 µM) on the growth, biochemical, and physiological characteristics of chickpea plants under water-stressed conditions., Results: The study's findings indicated that under water-stressed conditions, a decrease in seed (30%) and pod numbers (31%), 100-seed weight (17%), total chlorophyll content (46%), stomatal conductance (33%), as well as an increase in H 2 O 2 (62%), malondialdehyde content (40%), and electrolyte leakage index (40%), resulted in a 40% reduction in chickpea plants grain yield. Our findings confirmed that under water-stressed conditions, seed oil, seed oil yield, and seed protein yield dropped by 20%, 55%, and 36%, respectively. The concurrent exogenous application of ML and EBL significantly reduces oxidative stress, plasma membrane damage, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) content. This treatment also leads to increased yield and its components, higher pigment content, enhanced oil and protein yield, and improved enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant activities such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, polyphenol oxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, guaiacol peroxidase, flavonoid, and carotenoid. Furthermore, it promotes the accumulation of osmoprotectants such as proline, total soluble protein, and sugars., Conclusions: Our study found that ML and EBL act synergistically to regulate plant growth, photosynthesis, osmoprotectants accumulation, antioxidant defense systems, and maintain ROS homeostasis, thereby mitigating the adverse effects of water deficit conditions. ML and EBL are key regulatory network components in stressful conditions, with significant potential for future research and practical applications. The regulation metabolic pathways of ML and EBL in water-stressed remains unknown. As a result, future research should aim to elucidate the molecular mechanisms by employing genome editing, RNA sequencing, microarray, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic analyses to identify the mechanisms involved in plant responses to exogenous ML and EBL under water deficit conditions. Furthermore, the economical applications of synthetic ML and EBL could be an interesting strategy for improving plant tolerance., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Salinity tolerance was studied in chickpea accessions from a germplasm collection and in cultivars from Kazakhstan. After NaCl treatment, significant differences were found between genotypes, which could be arranged into three groups. Those that performed poorest were found in group 1, comprising five ICC accessions with the lowest chlorophyll content, the highest leaf necrosis (LN), Na + accumulation, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and a low glutathione ratio GSH/GSSG. Two cultivars, Privo-1 and Tassay, representing group 2, were moderate in these traits, while the best performance was for group 3, containing two other cultivars, Krasnokutsky-123 and Looch, which were found to have mostly green plants and an exact opposite pattern of traits. Marker-trait association (MTA) between 6K DArT markers and four traits (LN, Na + , MDA, and GSH/GSSG) revealed the presence of four possible candidate genes in the chickpea genome that may be associated with the three groups. One gene, ATP-binding cassette, CaABCC6 , was selected, and three haplotypes, A, D1, and D2, were identified in plants from the three groups. Two of the most salt-tolerant cultivars from group 3 were found to have haplotype D2 with a novel identified SNP. RT-qPCR analysis confirmed that this gene was strongly expressed after NaCl treatment in the parental- and breeding-line plants of haplotype D2. Mass spectrometry of seed proteins showed a higher accumulation of glutathione reductase and S-transferase, but not peroxidase, in the D2 haplotype. In conclusion, the CaABCC6 gene was hypothesized to be associated with a better response to oxidative stress via glutathione metabolism, while other candidate genes are likely involved in the control of chlorophyll content and Na + accumulation.

Endophytic bacteria live asymptomatically inside the tissues of host plants without inflicting any damage. Endophytes can confer several beneficial traits to plants, which can contribute to their growth, development, and overall health. They have been found to stimulate plant growth by enhancing nutrient uptake and availability. They can produce plant growth-promoting substances such as auxins, cytokinins, and gibberellins, which regulate various aspects of plant growth and development. Endophytes can also improve root system architecture, leading to increased nutrient and water absorption. Some endophytes possess the ability to solubilize nutrients, such as phosphorus and potassium, making them more available for plant uptake, and fixing atmospheric nitrogen. Chickpea ( Cicer arietinum ) is a major legume crop that has mutualistic interactions with endophytes. These endophytes can benefit the chickpea plant in various ways, including higher growth, improved nutrient uptake, increased tolerance to abiotic and biotic stressors, and disease suppression. They can produce enzymes and metabolites that scavenge harmful reactive oxygen species, thus reducing oxidative stress. Moreover, several studies reported that endophytes produce antimicrobial compounds, lytic enzymes, and volatile organic compounds that inhibit the growth of fungal pathogens and trigger systemic defense responses in plants, leading to increased resistance against a broad range of pathogens. They can activate plant defense pathways, including the production of defense-related enzymes, phytoalexins, and pathogenesis-related proteins, thereby providing long-lasting protection. It is important to note that the diversity and function of chickpea-associated endophytes can vary depending on factors such as variety, geographical location, and environmental conditions. The mechanisms behind the plant-beneficial interactions are still being intensively explored. In this review, new biotechnologies in agricultural production and ecosystem stability were presented. Thus, harnessing chickpea endophytes could be exploited in developing drought-resistant cultivars that can maintain productivity in arid and semi-arid environments, crucial for meeting the global demand for chickpeas., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2024 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press.)

Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) is an isothermal in vitro nucleic acid amplification technique that has been adopted for simple, robust, rapid, reliable diagnostics of nematodes. In this study, the real-time RPA assay and RPA assay combined with lateral flow dipsticks (LF-RPA) have been developed targeting the ITS rRNA gene of the British root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne artiellia . The assay provided specific and rapid detection of this root-knot nematode species from crude nematode extracts without a DNA extraction step with a sensitivity of 0.125 second-stage juvenile (J2) specimen per a reaction tube for real-time RPA during 11 min and a sensitivity of 0.5 J2 specimens per a reaction tube for LF-RPA during 25 min. The RPA assays were validated with a wide range of non-target root-knot nematodes. The LF-RPA assay has great potential for nematode diagnostics in the laboratory having minimal available equipment., (© 2024 Sergei A. Subbotin et al., published by Sciendo.)

Slowing the rate of carbohydrate digestion leads to low postprandial glucose and insulin responses, which are associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. There is increasing evidence that food structure plays a crucial role in influencing the bioaccessibility and digestion kinetics of macronutrients. The aims of this study were to compare the effects of two hummus meals, with different degrees of cell wall integrity, on postprandial metabolic responses in relation to the microstructural and rheological characteristics of the meals. A randomised crossover trial in 15 healthy participants was designed to compare the acute effect of 27 g of starch, provided as hummus made from either intact chickpea cells (ICC) or ruptured chickpea cells (RCC), on postprandial metabolic responses. In vitro starch digestibility, microstructural and rheological experiments were also conducted to evaluate differences between the two chickpea hummus meals. Blood insulin and GIP concentrations were significantly lower (P < 0.02, P < 0.03) after the consumption of the ICC meal than the meal containing RCC. In vitro starch digestion for 90 min was slower in ICC than in RCC. Microscopic examination of hummus samples digested in vitro for 90 min revealed more intact chickpea cells in ICC compared to the RCC sample. Rheological experiments showed that fracture for ICC hummus samples occurred at smaller strains compared to RCC samples. However, the storage modulus for ICC was higher than RCC, which may be explained by the presence of intact cells in ICC. Food structure can affect the rate and extent of starch bioaccessibility and digestion and may explain the difference in the time course of metabolic responses between meals. The rheological properties were measured on the two types of meals before ingestion, showing significant differences that may point to different breakdown mechanisms during subsequent digestion. This trial was registered at clinicaltrial.gov as NCT03424187., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Main Conclusion: Our findings shed light on the regulation of anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin biosynthesis in chickpea seed coats. Expression of R2R3-MYB transcription factors CaLAP1 and CaLAP2 enhanced the anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins content in chickpea. The seed coat color is a major economic trait in leguminous crop chickpea (Cicer arietinum). Anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins (PAs) are two classes of flavonoids that mainly contribute to the flower, seed coat and color of Desi chickpea cultivars. Throughout the land plant lineage, the accumulation of anthocyanins and PAs is regulated by MYB and bHLH transcription factors (TFs), which form an MBW (MYB, bHLH, and WD40) complex. Here, we report two R2R3-MYB TFs in chickpea belonging to the anthocyanin-specific subgroup-6, CaLAP1 (Legume Anthocyanin Production 1), and CaLAP2 (Legume Anthocyanin Production 2), which are mainly expressed in the flowers and developmental stages of the seeds. CaLAP1 and CaLAP2 interact with TT8-like CabHLH1 and WD40, forming the MBW complex, and bind to the promoter sequences of anthocyanin- and PA biosynthetic genes CaCHS6, CaDFR2, CaANS, and CaANR, leading to anthocyanins and PA accumulation in the seed coat of chickpea. Moreover, these CaLAPs partially complement the anthocyanin-deficient phenotype in the Arabidopsis thaliana sextuple mutant seedlings. Overexpression of CaLAPs in chickpea resulted in significantly higher expression of anthocyanin and PA biosynthetic genes leading to a darker seed coat color with higher accumulation of anthocyanin and PA. Our findings show that CaLAPs positively modulate anthocyanin and PA content in seed coats, which might influence plant development and resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) is a protective mechanism for dissipating excess energy generated during photosynthesis in the form of heat. The accelerated relaxation of the NPQ in fluctuating light can lead to an increase in the yield and dry matter productivity of crops. Since the measurement of NPQ is time-consuming and requires specific light conditions, theoretical NPQ (NPQ (T) ) was introduced for rapid estimation, which could be suitable for High-throughput Phenotyping. We investigated the potential of NPQ (T) to be used for testing plant genetic resources of chickpea under drought stress with non-invasive High-throughput Phenotyping complemented with yield traits. Besides a high correlation between the hundred-seed-weight and the Estimated Biovolume, significant differences were observed between the two types of chickpea desi and kabuli for Estimated Biovolume and NPQ (T) . Desi was able to maintain the Estimated Biovolume significantly better under drought stress. One reason could be the effective dissipation of excess excitation energy in photosystem II, which can be efficiently measured as NPQ (T) . Screening of plant genetic resources for photosynthetic performance could take pre-breeding to a higher level and can be implemented in a variety of studies, such as here with drought stress or under fluctuating light in a High-throughput Phenotyping manner using NPQ (T) ., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.) is a vital grain legume, offering an excellent balance of protein, carbohydrates, fats, fiber, essential micronutrients, and vitamins that can contribute to addressing the global population's increasing food and nutritional demands. Chickpea protein offers a balanced source of amino acids with high bioavailability. Moreover, due to its balanced nutrients and affordable price, chickpea is an excellent alternative to animal protein, offering a formidable tool for combating hidden hunger and malnutrition, particularly prevalent in low-income countries. This review examines chickpea's nutritional profile, encompassing protein, amino acids, carbohydrates, fatty acids, micronutrients, vitamins, antioxidant properties, and bioactive compounds of significance in health and pharmaceutical domains. Emphasis is placed on incorporating chickpeas into diets for their myriad health benefits and nutritional richness, aimed at enhancing human protein and micronutrient nutrition. We discuss advances in plant breeding and genomics that have facilitated the discovery of diverse genotypes and key genomic variants/regions/quantitative trait loci contributing to enhanced macro- and micronutrient contents and other quality parameters. Furthermore, we explore the potential of innovative breeding tools such as CRISPR/Cas9 in enhancing chickpea's nutritional profile. Envisioning chickpea as a nutritionally smart crop, we endeavor to safeguard food security, combat hunger and malnutrition, and promote dietary diversity within sustainable agrifood systems., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Jha, Nayyar, Thudi, Beena, Vara Prasad and Siddique.)

Development of protein-enriched chickpea varieties necessitates an understanding of specific genes and key regulatory circuits that govern the synthesis of seed storage proteins (SSPs). Here, we demonstrated the novel involvement of Ca-miR164e-CaNAC100 in regulating SSP synthesis in chickpea. Ca-miRNA164e was significantly decreased during seed maturation, especially in high-protein accessions. The miRNA was found to directly target the transactivation conferring C-terminal region of a nuclear-localized transcription factor, CaNAC100 as revealed using RNA ligase-mediated-rapid amplification of cDNA ends and target mimic assays. The functional role of CaNAC100 was demonstrated through seed-specific overexpression (NACOE) resulting in significantly augmented seed protein content (SPC) consequential to increased SSP transcription. Further, NACOE lines displayed conspicuously enhanced seed weight but reduced numbers and yield. Conversely, a downregulation of CaNAC100 and SSP transcripts was evident in seed-specific overexpression lines of Ca-miR164e that culminated in significantly lowered SPC. CaNAC100 was additionally demonstrated to transactivate the SSP-encoding genes by directly binding to their promoters as demonstrated using electrophoretic mobility shift and dual-luciferase reporter assays. Taken together, our study for the first time established a distinct role of CaNAC100 in positively influencing SSP synthesis and its critical regulation by CamiR164e, thereby serving as an understanding that can be utilized for developing SPC-rich chickpea varieties., (© 2024 The Authors New Phytologist © 2024 New Phytologist Foundation.)

Chickpeas have large variations in their types and nutrient composition, owing to diverse environmental conditions, breeding techniques, and cultivars. Thirty-one improved varieties of chickpeas bred for various agronomic traits like high yield, resistance to diseases, and tolerance to abiotic stress were analyzed for their nutrient composition, along with two local varieties. They were found to be rich in proteins (16.09-26.22 g/100 g) and dietary fiber (10.33-26.33 g/100 g) with moderate amounts of available carbohydrates (34.20-54.72 g/100 g) and to have a significant quantity of minerals like calcium (127.50-183.86 mg/100 g), iron (4.55-8.33 mg/100 g), and phosphorous (285.92-528.31 mg/100 g). They were found to be similar (fat, carbohydrates, dietary fiber) or statistically higher (protein, ash) than the local varieties for all the nutrient parameters that were analyzed. A significant difference was also found between the desi and kabuli varieties, where the desi variety was found to have significantly lower fat and available carbohydrates but high dietary fiber content. This study signifies that the varietal differences in nutritional composition are significant in chickpeas. Varieties like Sasho, ICCV 96030, and Teketay showed desirable nutritional qualities associated with moisture, protein, dietary fiber, and minerals like zinc, phosphorous, iron, copper, and calcium. This data will be beneficial for manufacturers in the product development and value addition industries for the selection of varieties ideal for their needs since the nutrient component also confers several functional and physiochemical properties to the chickpea seed besides providing a nutritionally diverse diet., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Genetic diversity and environmental factors are long believed to be the dominant contributors to phenotypic diversity in crop plants. However, it has been recently established that, besides genetic variation, epigenetic variation, especially variation in DNA methylation, plays a significant role in determining phenotypic diversity in crop plants. Therefore, assessing DNA methylation diversity in crop plants becomes vital, especially in the case of crops like chickpea, which has a narrow genetic base. Thus, in the present study, we employed whole-genome bisulfite sequencing to assess DNA methylation diversity in wild and cultivated (desi and kabuli) chickpea. This revealed extensive DNA methylation diversity in both wild and cultivated chickpea. Interestingly, the methylation diversity was found to be significantly higher than genetic diversity, suggesting its potential role in providing vital phenotypic diversity for the evolution and domestication of the Cicer gene pool. The phylogeny based on DNA methylation variation also indicates a potential complementary role of DNA methylation variation in addition to DNA sequence variation in shaping chickpea evolution. Besides, the study also identified diverse epi-alleles of many previously known genes of agronomic importance. The Cicer MethVarMap database developed in this study enables researchers to readily visualize methylation variation within the genes and genomic regions of their interest (http://223.31.159.7/cicer/public/). Therefore, epigenetic variation like DNA methylation variation can potentially explain the paradox of high phenotypic diversity despite the narrow genetic base in chickpea and can potentially be employed for crop improvement., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Kazusa DNA Research Institute.)

Chickpea is an important cash crop for Ada'a farmers as it does for farmers in Ethiopia and elsewhere in the world. Its production, however, has been dwindling due to biotic and abiotic stresses. According to participant farmers from Ada'a district, the production of chickpea in some Kebeles of Ada'a such as Gubasaye has been abandoned because of root rot and foliar diseases such as fusarium wilt. This paper presents the evaluation of upscaled varieties' performance assessed by metric data as well as through beneficiary farmers' self-assessment data. Recognizant to the problem, five varieties of chickpea tested in the Goro district of the Southwest Shoa zone, were introduced as part of the upscaling of crowdsourcing winner crop varieties in Ethiopia. Crowdsourcing is an approach of outsourcing variety evaluation, selection, and dissemination to volunteer crowds of farmers. The introduction of the winner varieties and adjustment of the planting time was found effective in the Ada'a district. Higher grain yield was obtained from the upscaled winner varieties in the range of 2.4-2.53 t/ha, with slight variations over varieties. Habru variety showed slightly higher performance than the others. Survey participant farmers have reported an increase in GY due to growing the winner varieties compared with varieties they used to grow before and gained higher annual income due to higher productivity, market demand of the upscaled varieties, and premium market price with 6-25 Ethiopian birr (ETB) per kilogram of sold grain of these varieties. High productivity is attributed to the genetic potential of the varieties, their response to farm management, and better adaptation to the local growing conditions. Participant farmers perceived that their livelihood has been improving because of the adoption of the upscaled varieties' productivity and market demand. The annual income of participant farmers is estimated to be 2500 to 181,000 ETB for growing the winner varieties. The results indicate that upscaling pre-tested chickpea varieties and delaying their planting time to early September are effective mechanisms for reducing yield loss to fusarium wilt and root rot diseases. It can be inferred that using the crowdsourcing approach for variety evaluation and selection for upscaling is a robust approach to improve the adoption and dissemination of improved agricultural technologies., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:Dejene K. Mengistu reports administrative support was provided by Oromia Seed Enterprise. Dejene K. Mengistu reports a relationship with Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture that includes: employment. Nothing to declare. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

In the present study, ten (10) selected bacteria isolated from chasmophytic wild Chenopodium were evaluated for alleviation of drought stress in chickpea. All the bacterial cultures were potential P, K and Zn solubilizer. About 50% of the bacteria could produce Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase. The bacteria showed wide range of tolerance towards pH, salinity, temperature and osmotic stress. Bacillus paralicheniformis L38, Pseudomonas sp. LN75, Enterobacter hormachei subsp. xiangfengensis LJ89, B. paramycoides L17 and Micrococcus luteus LA9 significantly improved growth and nutrient (N, P, K, Fe and Zn) content in chickpea under water stress during a green house experiment conducted following a completely randomized design (CRD). Application of Microbacterium imperiale LJ10, B. stercoris LN74, Pseudomonas sp. LN75, B. paralicheniformis L38 and E. hormachei subsp. xiangfengensis LJ89 reduced the antioxidant enzymes under water stress. During field experiments conducted following randomized block design (RBD), all the bacterial inoculations improved chickpea yield under water stress. Highest yield (1363 kg ha -1 ) was obtained in plants inoculated with Pseudomonas sp. LN75. Pseudomonas sp. LN75, B. paralicheniformis L38 and E. hormachei subsp. xiangfengensis LJ89 have potential as microbial stimulants to alleviate the water stress in chickpea. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of using chasmophyte associated bacteria for alleviation of water stress in a crop plant., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.) is a very important food legume and needs improved drought tolerance for higher seed production in dry environments. The aim of this study was to determine diversity and genetic polymorphism in zinc finger knuckle genes with CCHC domains and their functional analysis for practical improvement of chickpea breeding. Two CaZF-CCHC genes, Ca04468 and Ca07571 , were identified as potentially important candidates associated with plant responses to drought and dehydration. To study these genes, various methods were used including Sanger sequencing, DArT (Diversity array technology) and molecular markers for plant genotyping, gene expression analysis using RT-qPCR, and associations with seed-related traits in chickpea plants grown in field trials. These genes were studied for genetic polymorphism among a set of chickpea accessions, and one SNP was selected for further study from four identified SNPs between the promoter regions of each of the two genes. Molecular markers were developed for the SNP and verified using the ASQ and CAPS methods. Genotyping of parents and selected breeding lines from two hybrid populations, and SNP positions on chromosomes with haplotype identification, were confirmed using DArT microarray analysis. Differential expression profiles were identified in the parents and the hybrid populations under gradual drought and rapid dehydration. The SNP-based genotypes were differentially associated with seed weight per plant but not with 100 seed weight. The two developed and verified SNP molecular markers for both genes, Ca04468 and Ca07571 , respectively, could be used for marker-assisted selection in novel chickpea cultivars with improved tolerance to drought and dehydration., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Khassanova, Oshergina, Ten, Jatayev, Zhanbyrshina, Gabdola, Gupta, Schramm, Pupulin, Philp-Dutton, Anderson, Sweetman, Jenkins, Soole and Shavrukov.)

Plant-based proteins have gained popularity in the food industry as a good protein source. Among these, chickpea protein has gained significant attention in recent times due to its high yields, high nutritional content, and health benefits. With an abundance of essential amino acids, particularly lysine, and a highly digestible indispensable amino acid score of 76 (DIAAS), chickpea protein is considered a substitute for animal proteins. However, the application of chickpea protein in food products is limited due to its poor functional properties, such as solubility, water-holding capacity, and emulsifying and gelling properties. To overcome these limitations, various modification methods, including physical, biological, chemical, and a combination of these, have been applied to enhance the functional properties of chickpea protein and expand its applications in healthy food products. Therefore, this review aims to comprehensively examine recent advances in Cicer arietinum (chickpea) protein extraction techniques, characterizing its properties, exploring post-modification strategies, and assessing its diverse applications in the food industry. Moreover, we reviewed the nutritional benefits and sustainability implications, along with addressing regulatory considerations. This review intends to provide insights into maximizing the potential of Cicer arietinum protein in diverse applications while ensuring sustainability and compliance with regulations.

The productivity and production of chickpeas can be improved by using access-improved varieties that are suitable for the specific agroecology. However, the foundation for adopting new technology is participatory variety selection (PVS). Therefore, this study aimed to identify the best adaptively improved chickpea varieties in northwestern Ethiopia based on the preferences of farmers in Adet and Fogera Districts. The experiment consisted of ten improved chickpea varieties (Desi and Kabuli) that were evaluated in three replications using the mother baby trail approach, including on-station and on-farm evaluations. According to this trail, the highest grain yield among different types of chickpeas was observed in the varieties Teketay (2327.8 kg/ha), Dalota (2175.9 kg/ha), and Geletu (2123.6 kg/ha). Among the Kabuli types, Koka (2813.2 kg/ha) and Dhera (2325.7 kg/ha) showed the highest mean values of grain yield. At Adet location, the varieties Teketay (2772.2 kg/ha), Dalota (2459.7 kg/ha), and Geletu (2270.8 kg/ha) produced the highest grain yield. Similarly, Koka (3195.8 kg/ha), Dhera (2604.2 kg/ha), and Ejere (2601.4 kg/ha) were the top-yielding Kabuli chickpea varieties. Farmers from Adet location in Senkengha Kebele selected three Desi and three Kabuli chickpea varieties, namely Geletu, Teketay, and Dalota, in that order, as well as Koka, Hora, and Ejere. Meanwhile, farmers in Mousobo Kebele identified Koka, Dhera, and Hora from the Kabuli type as the best varieties. The varieties Geletu (1976.4 kg/ha), Dalota (1891.9 kg/ha), and Teketay (1883.3 kg/ha) had the highest mean grain yield at Fogera location. Similarly, in the Kabuli chickpea varieties, the highest mean value of grain yield was obtained from Koka (2430.6 kg/ha) followed by Hora (2097.2 kg/ha), and Dhera (2047.2 kg/ha). Farmers have chosen three of the best Desi and Kabuli chickpea varieties, i.e Geletu, Teketay, and Dalota, and Local check (Shasho) followed by Koka and Ejere at Fogera location, Geina Kebele in that order. In conclusion, the adoption and dissemination of new improved varieties for the new environment can assist the producers such as the farmers for effective chickpea production. This leads to sustainable self-sufficiency of food at the household and country level., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Studies on antihypertensive chickpea protein hydrolysates have rarely performed in vivo evaluations, limiting the entry of such hydrolysates into functional food development and clinical trials. Thus, our aim was to optimize the hydrolysis conditions to produce an alcalase-based chickpea hydrolysate with a hypotensive effect in vivo at convenient oral doses. The hydrolysis reaction time, temperature, and alcalase/substrate concentration were optimized using a response surface analysis (RSA). ACE-I inhibition was the response variable. The optimized hydrolysis conditions were time = 0.5 h, temperature = 40 °C, and E/S concentration = 0.254 (U/g). The IC 50 of the optimized hydrolysate (OCPH) was 0.358 mg/mL. Five hydrolysates from the RSA worksheet (one of them obtained after 5 min of hydrolysis (CPH15)) had an ACE-I inhibitory potential similar to that of OCPH ( p > 0.05). At 50 mg/kg doses, OCPH and CPH15 promoted a clinically relevant hypotensive effect in spontaneously hypertensive rats, up to -47.35 mmHg and -28.95 mmHg, respectively ( p < 0.05 vs. negative control). Furthermore, the hypotensive effect was sustained for at least 7 h post-supplementation. Overall, OCPH and CPH15 are promising ingredients for functional food development and as test materials for clinical trials.

The CRISPR-Cas genome editing tools are revolutionizing agriculture and basic biology with their simplicity and precision ability to modify target genomic loci. Software-predicted guide RNAs (gRNAs) often fail to induce efficient cleavage at target loci. Many target loci are inaccessible due to complex chromatin structure. Currently, there is no suitable tool available to predict the architecture of genomic target sites and their accessibility. Hence, significant time and resources are spent on performing editing experiments with inefficient guides. Although in vitro-cleavage assay could provide a rough assessment of gRNA efficiency, it largely excludes the interference of native genomic context. Transient in-vivo testing gives a proper assessment of the cleavage ability of editing reagents in a native genomic context. Here, we developed a modified protocol that offers highly efficient protoplast isolation from rice, Arabidopsis, and chickpea, using a sucrose gradient, transfection using PEG (polyethylene glycol), and validation of single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) cleavage efficiency of CRISPR-Cas9. We have optimized various parameters for PEG-mediated protoplast transfection and achieved high transfection efficiency using our protocol in both monocots and dicots. We introduced plasmid vectors containing Cas9 and sgRNAs targeting genes in rice, Arabidopsis, and chickpea protoplasts. Using dual sgRNAs, our CRISPR-deletion strategy offers straightforward detection of genome editing success by simple agarose gel electrophoresis. Sanger sequencing of PCR products confirmed the editing efficiency of specific sgRNAs. Notably, we demonstrated that isolated protoplasts can be stored for up to 24/48 h with little loss of viability, allowing a pause between isolation and transfection. This high-efficiency protocol for protoplast isolation and transfection enables rapid (less than 7 days) validation of sgRNA cleavage efficiency before proceeding with stable transformation. The isolation and transfection method can also be utilized for rapid validation of editing strategies, evaluating diverse editing reagents, regenerating plants from transfected protoplasts, gene expression studies, protein localization and functional analysis, and other applications., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42994-024-00139-7., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare no conflict of interest., (© The Authors 2024.)