Mineral concentrations of chickpea and lentil cultivars and breeding lines grown in the U.S. Pacific Northwest

Antioxidant activities, phenolic compounds, and mineral composition of seed from Acacia retinodes, A. Provincialis and A. Tenuissima

Seeds of the species Acacia retinodes, A. provincialis, and A. tenuissima) from different growing locations were analysed for their mineral composition, free and bound polyphenols, and flavonoids. Previous research has studied these compounds in only a limited number of Acacia species, and only one study reports significant differences between three species. All species were rich in potassium (353 - 427 mg/100 g), sodium (14 - 240 mg/100 g) and iron (7 - 8 mg/100 g). The free polyphenol extracts of all species had higher total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and antioxidant activities than their bound counterparts, indicating the possibility of higher bioavailability than the bound polyphenol extracts. The predominant phenolic compounds found in the Acacia polyphenol seed extracts were 6-Hydroxy-2-methylindole and 2,2'-Methylenebis(6-tert-butyl-methylphenol), though no phenolic compounds were identified in the bound extracts of A. retinodes Grampians and A. provincialis Tarrington. Other compounds identified in the seed extracts include sucrose, d-fructofuranose and d-pinitol.

Fatty acid composition and genome-wide associations of a chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) diversity panel for biofortification efforts

Chickpea is a nutritionally dense pulse crop with high levels of protein, carbohydrates, micronutrients and low levels of fats. Chickpea fatty acids are associated with a reduced risk of obesity, blood cholesterol, and cardiovascular diseases in humans. We measured four primary chickpea fatty acids; palmitic acid (PA), linoleic acid (LA), alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), and oleic acid (OA), which are crucial for human health and plant stress responses in a chickpea diversity panel with 256 accessions (Kabuli and desi types). A wide concentration range was found for PA (450.7-912.6 mg/100 g), LA (1605.7-3459.9 mg/100 g), ALA (416.4-864.5 mg/100 g), and OA (1035.5-1907.2 mg/100 g). The percent recommended daily allowances also varied for PA (3.3-6.8%), LA (21.4-46.1%), ALA (34.7-72%), and OA (4.3-7.9%). Weak correlations were found among fatty acids. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were conducted using genotyping-by-sequencing data. Five significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified for PA. Admixture population structure analysis revealed seven subpopulations based on ancestral diversity in this panel. This is the first reported study to characterize fatty acid profiles across a chickpea diversity panel and perform GWAS to detect associations between genetic markers and concentrations of selected fatty acids. These findings demonstrate biofortification of chickpea fatty acids is possible using conventional and genomic breeding techniques, to develop superior cultivars with better fatty acid profiles for improved human health and plant stress responses.

Prediction of Mineral Composition in Wheat Flours Fortified with Lentil Flour Using NIR Technology

Lentil flour is an important source of minerals, including iron, so its use in food fortification programs is becoming increasingly important. In this study, the potential of near infrared technology to discriminate the presence of lentil flour in fortified wheat flours and the quantification of their mineral composition is evaluated. Three varieties of lentils (Castellana, Pardina and Guareña) were used to produce flours, and a total of 153 samples of wheat flours fortified with them have been analyzed. The results show that it is possible to discriminate fortified flours with 100% efficiency according to their lentil flour content and to discriminate them according to the variety of lentil flour used. Regarding their mineral composition, the models developed have shown that it is possible to predict the Ca, Mg, Fe, K and P content in fortified flours using near infrared spectroscopy. Moreover, these models can be applied to unknown samples with results comparable to ICP-MS determination of these minerals.

Seed Yield, Crude Protein and Mineral Nutrients of Lentil Genotypes Evaluated across Diverse Environments under Organic and Conventional Farming

Lentil is an important legume crop for human and animal dietary needs due to its high nutritional value. The effect of genotype and growing environment was studied on seed yield (SY), crude protein (CP) and mineral nutrients (macro and micronutrients) of five lentil genotypes grown at four diverse locations for two consecutive years under organic and conventional farming. The location within each year was considered as a separate environment (E). Data were subjected to over environment two-way analysis of variance, while a genotype (G) plus genotype × environment (GGE) biplot analysis was performed. Our results indicated the E as the main source of variation (62.3-99.8%) for SY, CP and macronutrients for both farming systems, while for micronutrients it was either the E or the G × E interaction. Different environments were identified as ideal for the parameters studied: E6 (Larissa/Central Greece/2020) produced the higher CP values (organic: 32.0%, conventional: 27.5%) and showed the highest discriminating ability that was attributed to the lowest precipitation during the crucial period of pod filling. E7 (Thessaloniki/Central Macedonia/2020) and E8 (Orestiada/Thrace/2020) had fertile soils and ample soil moisture and were the most discriminating for high micronutrient content under both farming systems. Location Orestiada showed the highest SY for both organic (1.87-2.28 t ha^-1) and conventional farming (1.56-2.89 t ha^-1) regardless the year of cultivation and is proposed as an ideal location for lentil cultivation or for breeding for high SY. Genotypes explained a low percentage of the total variability; however, two promising genotypes were identified. Cultivar "Samos" demonstrated a wide adaptation capacity exhibiting stable and high SY under both organic and conventional farming, while the red lentil population "03-24L" showed very high level of seed CP, Fe and Mn contents regardless E or farming system. This genetic material could be further exploited as parental material aiming to develop lentil varieties that could be utilized as "functional" food or consist of a significant feed ingredient.

Integrated breeding approaches to enhance the nutritional quality of food legumes

Global food security, both in terms of quantity and quality remains as a challenge with the increasing population. In parallel, micronutrient deficiency in the human diet leads to malnutrition and several health-related problems collectively known as "hidden hunger" more prominent in developing countries around the globe. Biofortification is a potential tool to fortify grain legumes with micronutrients to mitigate the food and nutritional security of the ever-increasing population. Anti-nutritional factors like phytates, raffinose (RFO's), oxalates, tannin, etc. have adverse effects on human health upon consumption. Reduction of the anti-nutritional factors or preventing their accumulation offers opportunity for enhancing the intake of legumes in diet besides increasing the bioavailability of micronutrients. Integrated breeding methods are routinely being used to exploit the available genetic variability for micronutrients through modern "omic" technologies such as genomics, transcriptomics, ionomics, and metabolomics for developing biofortified grain legumes. Molecular mechanism of Fe/Zn uptake, phytate, and raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFOs) biosynthesis pathways have been elucidated. Transgenic, microRNAs and genome editing tools hold great promise for designing nutrient-dense and anti-nutrient-free grain legumes. In this review, we present the recent efforts toward manipulation of genes/QTLs regulating biofortification and Anti-nutrient accumulation in legumes using genetics-, genomics-, microRNA-, and genome editing-based approaches. We also discuss the success stories in legumes enrichment and recent advances in development of low Anti-nutrient lines. We hope that these emerging tools and techniques will expedite the efforts to develop micronutrient dense legume crop varieties devoid of Anti-nutritional factors that will serve to address the challenges like malnutrition and hidden hunger.

Genome-wide association analysis to delineate high-quality SNPs for seed micronutrient density in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Chickpea is the most important nutrient-rich grain legume crop in the world. A diverse core set of 147 chickpea genotypes was genotyped with a Axiom(®)50K CicerSNP array and trait phenotyped in two different environments for four seed micronutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn). The trait data and high-throughput 50K SNP genotypic data were used for the genome-wide association study (GWAS). The study led to the discovery of genes/QTLs for seed Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn, concentrations in chickpea. The analysis of seed micronutrient data revealed significant differences for all four micronutrient concentrations (P ≤ 0.05). The mean concentrations of seed Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn pooled over the 2 years were 45.9 ppm, 63.8 ppm 146.1 ppm, and 27.0 ppm, respectively. The analysis of results led to the identification of 35 SNPs significantly associated with seed Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn concentrations. Among these 35 marker-trait associations (MTAs), 5 were stable (consistently identified in different environments), 6 were major (explaining more than 15% of the phenotypic variation for an individual trait) and 3 were both major and stable MTAs. A set of 6 MTAs, MTAs (3 for Mn, 2 for Fe, and 1 for Cu) reported by us during the present study have been also reported in the same/almost same genomic regions in earlier studies and therefore declared as validated MTAs. The stable, major and validated MTAs identified during the present study will prove useful in future chickpea molecular breeding programs aimed at enhancing the seed nutrient density of chickpea.

Exploring Chickpea Germplasm Diversity for Broadening the Genetic Base Utilizing Genomic Resourses

Legume crops provide significant nutrition to humans as a source of protein, omega-3 fatty acids as well as specific macro and micronutrients. Additionally, legumes improve the cropping environment by replenishing the soil nitrogen content. Chickpeas are the second most significant staple legume food crop worldwide behind dry bean which contains 17%–24% protein, 41%–51% carbohydrate, and other important essential minerals, vitamins, dietary fiber, folate, β-carotene, anti-oxidants, micronutrients (phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc) as well as linoleic and oleic unsaturated fatty acids. Despite these advantages, legumes are far behind cereals in terms of genetic improvement mainly due to far less effort, the bottlenecks of the narrow genetic base, and several biotic and abiotic factors in the scenario of changing climatic conditions. Measures are now called for beyond conventional breeding practices to strategically broadening of narrow genetic base utilizing chickpea wild relatives and improvement of cultivars through advanced breeding approaches with a focus on high yield productivity, biotic and abiotic stresses including climate resilience, and enhanced nutritional values. Desirable donors having such multiple traits have been identified using core and mini core collections from the cultivated gene pool and wild relatives of Chickpea. Several methods have been developed to address cross-species fertilization obstacles and to aid in inter-specific hybridization and introgression of the target gene sequences from wild Cicer species. Additionally, recent advances in “Omics” sciences along with high-throughput and precise phenotyping tools have made it easier to identify genes that regulate traits of interest. Next-generation sequencing technologies, whole-genome sequencing, transcriptomics, and differential genes expression profiling along with a plethora of novel techniques like single nucleotide polymorphism exploiting high-density genotyping by sequencing assays, simple sequence repeat markers, diversity array technology platform, and whole-genome re-sequencing technique led to the identification and development of QTLs and high-density trait mapping of the global chickpea germplasm. These altogether have helped in broadening the narrow genetic base of chickpeas.

Nutritional and Food Composition Survey of Major Pulses Toward Healthy, Sustainable, and Biofortified Diets

The world's food demand is increasing rapidly due to fast population growth that has posed a challenge to meeting the requirements of nutritionally balanced diets. Pulses could play a major role in the human diet to combat these challenges and provide nutritional and physiological benefits. Pulses such as chickpeas, green gram, peas, horse gram, beans, lentils, black gram, etc., are rich sources of protein (190–260 g kg−1), carbohydrates (600–630 g kg−1), dietary fibers, and bioactive compounds. There are many health benefits of phytochemicals present in pulses, like flavonoids, phenolics, tannins, phytates, saponins, lectins, oxalates, phytosterols peptides, and enzyme inhibitors. Some of them have anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcerative, anti-microbial, and anti-cancer effects. Along with these, pulses are also rich in vitamins and minerals. In this review, we highlight the potential role of pulses in global food systems and diets, their nutritional value, health benefits, and prospects for biofortification of major pulses. The food composition databases with respect to pulses, effect of processing techniques, and approaches for improvement of nutritional profile of pulses are elaborated.

Exploring the Genetic Variability and Potential Correlations Between Nutritional Quality and Agro-Physiological Traits in Kabuli Chickpea Germplasm Collection (Cicer arietinum L.)

Chickpea is an important source of plant-based protein and mineral elements such as iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn). The development of superior high-yielding germplasm with high nutritional value becomes central for any breeding program. Chickpea biofortified and nutrient-dense seeds can contribute to mitigate many human health problems associated with protein and micronutrients deficiency. In this study, 282 advanced chickpea lines were grown under field conditions to evaluate their agronomic performances and nutritional quality value. The trial was conducted under winter planting conditions during the cropping season 2017/2018 at ICARDA-Marchouch research station, Morocco. Results revealed high genetic variation and significant differences between the tested genotypes for all studied parameters. Under field conditions, the grain yield (GY) varied from 0.57 to 1.81 (t.ha-1), and 100-seed weight (HSW) ranged from 23.1 to 50.9 g. Out of the 282 genotypes, only 4 genotypes (i.e., S130109, S130058, S130066, and S130157) combined both good agronomic performances (GY, HSW) and high nutritional quality (protein, macronutrients, and micronutrients). Protein content ranged from 18.9 to 32.4%. For the whole collection, Fe content varied from 31.2 to 81 ppm, while Zn content ranged from 32.1 to 86.1 ppm. Correlation analysis indicated that the studied traits were significantly intercorrelated, with negative correlation between protein content and Zn concentration. Positive correlations were observed between grain filling time (F2M) and the micronutrients Zn, Cu, and Mn and macroelements K and Mg. Low positive correlation was also recorded between Pr and Fe concentrations. No significant correlation was observed between Fe and Zn. Positive correlations observed between main agronomic and nutritional quality traits makes easy any simultaneous enhancement when combining these traits.

Harnessing the hidden allelic diversity of wild Cicer to accelerate genomics-assisted chickpea crop improvement

Chickpea, commonly called Bengal gram or Garbanzo bean, faces a productivity crisis around the globe due to numerous biotic and abiotic stresses. The eroded genetic base of the cultivated Cicer gene pool is becoming a significant bottleneck in developing stress-resilient chickpea cultivars. In this scenario, the crop wild relatives (CWR) of chickpea, with the useful genomic wealth of their wild adaptation, give a ray of hope to improve the genetic background of the cultivated Cicer gene pool. To extrapolate these unearthed genomic diversities of wild, we require a thorough understanding of the pre-historic domestication episodes that are changing their shape with the expansion of the available scientific evidence. Keeping aforesaid in view, the current review article provides a glimpsed overview on several efforts done so far to reveal the mysterious origin and evolution of the Cicer gene pool, along with the constraints in their utilization for chickpea crop improvement. It encapsulates various stress-resilient CWR of chickpea and their use in several pre-breeding programs to develop numerous breeding populations for crop genetic enhancement. Further, this review will recapitulate the significant contributions of structural, functional and comparative genomics, pan-genomics and diverse genomics-assisted breeding strategy in dissecting the untapped trait-specific allelic/gene diversity and domestication pattern behind the CWR of chickpea, along with their potential and promises. We expect the newly explored genetic variations may be used in the breeding programs for re-wilding the cultigens' genomic background to open a new avenue for genetic gain and crop improvement capacity of chickpea.

Current Status and Potential of Biofortification to Enhance Crop Nutritional Quality: An Overview

Around 2 billion people are suffering from chronic malnutrition or “hidden hunger”, which is the result of many diseases and disorders, including cognitive degeneration, stunting growth, and mortality. Thus, biofortification of staple food crops enriched with micronutrients is a more sustainable option for providing nutritional supplements and managing malnutrition in a society. Since 2001, when the concept of biofortification came to light, different research activities have been carried out, like the development of target populations, breeding or genetic engineering, and the release of biofortified cultivars, in addition to conducting nutritional efficacy trials and delivery plan development. Although, being a cost-effective intervention, it still faces many challenges, like easy accessibility of biofortified cultivars, stakeholders’ acceptance, and the availability of biofortified germplasm in the public domain, which varies from region to region. Hence, this review is focused on the recent potential, efforts made to crop biofortification, impacts analysis on human health, cost-effectiveness, and future perspectives to further strengthen biofortification programs. Through regular interventions of sustainable techniques and methodologies, biofortification holds huge potential to solve the malnutrition problem through regular interventions of nutrient-enriched staple food options for billions of people globally.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) as a Source of Essential Fatty Acids - A Biofortification Approach

Chickpea is a highly nutritious pulse crop with low digestible carbohydrates (40-60%), protein (15-22%), essential fats (4-8%), and a range of minerals and vitamins. The fatty acid composition of the seed adds value because fats govern the texture, shelf-life, flavor, aroma, and nutritional composition of chickpea-based food products. Therefore, the biofortification of essential fatty acids has become a nutritional breeding target for chickpea crop improvement programs worldwide. This paper examines global chickpea production, focusing on plant lipids, their functions, and their benefits to human health. In addition, this paper also reviews the chemical analysis of essential fatty acids and possible breeding targets to enrich essential fatty acids in chickpea (Cicer arietinum) biofortification. Biofortification of chickpea for essential fatty acids within safe levels will improve human health and support food processing to retain the quality and flavor of chickpea-based food products. Essential fatty acid biofortification is possible by phenotyping diverse chickpea germplasm over suitable locations and years and identifying the candidate genes responsible for quantitative trait loci mapping using genome-wide association mapping.

Biofortification of pea (Pisum sativum L.): a review

Biofortification refers to an approach to increase micronutrient concentrations in the edible parts of plants with increased bioavailability to the human population. Conventional, agronomic and transgenic breeding methods can be used to develop these biofortified crops, offering sustainable and cost-effective strategies. Pea has long been recognized as a valuable, nutritious food for the human diet, but there is a limited amount of information about it, which prevents the full micronutrient enrichment potential of this pulse crop to be reached. Considerations must include not only micronutrient concentrations but also the amount of the nutrient that can be absorbed by the consumer, after processing and cooking. Development of biofortified pea that retains nutrients during cooking and processing is not only essential for fighting micronutrient malnutrition, but also necessary to improve agricultural productivity. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Heat and Drought Stress Impact on Phenology, Grain Yield, and Nutritional Quality of Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus)

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) is a protein-rich cool-season food legume with an excellent source of protein, prebiotic carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins. With climate change, heat, and drought stresses have become more frequent and intense in lentil growing areas with a strong influence on phenology, grain yield, and nutritional quality. This study aimed to assess the impact of heat and drought stresses on phenology, grain yield, and nutritional quality of lentil. For this purpose, 100 lentil genotypes from the global collection were evaluated under normal, heat, and combined heat-drought conditions. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences (p < 0.001) among lentil genotypes for phenological traits, yield components, and grain quality traits. Under no stress conditions, mineral concentrations among lentil genotypes varied from 48 to 109 mg kg⁻¹ for iron (Fe) and from 31 to 65 mg kg⁻¹ for zinc (Zn), while crude protein content ranged from 22.5 to 32.0%. Iron, zinc, and crude protein content were significantly reduced under stress conditions, and the effect of combined heat-drought stress was more severe than heat stress alone. A significant positive correlation was observed between iron and zinc concentrations under both no stress and stress conditions. Based on grain yield, crude protein, and iron and zinc concentrations, lentil genotypes were grouped into three clusters following the hierarchical cluster analysis. Promising lentil genotypes with high micronutrient contents, crude protein, and grain yield with the least effect of heat and drought stress were identified as the potential donors for biofortification in the lentil breeding program.

Genome-Wide SNP Discovery and Mapping QTLs for Seed Iron and Zinc Concentrations in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Biofortification through plant breeding is a cost-effective and sustainable approach towards addressing micronutrient malnutrition prevailing across the globe. Screening cultivars for micronutrient content and identification of quantitative trait loci (QTLs)/genes and markers help in the development of biofortified varieties in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). With the aim of identifying the genomic regions controlling seed Fe and Zn concentrations, the F2:3 population derived from a cross between MNK-1 and Annigeri 1 was genotyped using genotyping by sequencing approach and evaluated for Fe and Zn concentration. An intraspecific genetic linkage map comprising 839 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spanning a total distance of 1,088.04 cM with an average marker density of 1.30 cM was constructed. By integrating the linkage map data with the phenotypic data of the F2:3 population, a total of 11 QTLs were detected for seed Fe concentration on CaLG03, CaLG04, and CaLG05, with phenotypic variation explained ranging from 7.2% (CaqFe3.4) to 13.4% (CaqFe4.2). For seed Zn concentration, eight QTLs were identified on CaLG04, CaLG05, and CaLG08. The QTLs individually explained phenotypic variations ranging between 5.7% (CaqZn8.1) and 13.7% (CaqZn4.3). Three QTLs for seed Fe and Zn concentrations (CaqFe4.4, CaqFe4.5, and CaqZn4.1) were colocated in the "QTL-hotspot" region on CaLG04 that harbors several drought tolerance-related QTLs. We identified genes in the QTL regions that encode iron-sulfur metabolism and zinc-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase activity on CaLG03, iron ion binding oxidoreductase on CaLG04, and zinc-induced facilitator-like protein and ZIP zinc/iron transport family protein on CaLG05. These genomic regions and the associated markers can be used in marker-assisted selection to increase seed Fe and Zn concentrations in agronomically superior chickpea varieties.

Image-Based Phenotyping of Flowering Intensity in Cool-Season Crops

The timing and duration of flowering are key agronomic traits that are often associated with the ability of a variety to escape abiotic stress such as heat and drought. Flowering information is valuable in both plant breeding and agricultural production management. Visual assessment, the standard protocol used for phenotyping flowering, is a low-throughput and subjective method. In this study, we evaluated multiple imaging sensors (RGB and multiple multispectral cameras), image resolution (proximal/remote sensing at 1.6 to 30 m above ground level/AGL), and image processing (standard and unsupervised learning) techniques in monitoring flowering intensity of four cool-season crops (canola, camelina, chickpea, and pea) to enhance the accuracy and efficiency in quantifying flowering traits. The features (flower area, percentage of flower area with respect to canopy area) extracted from proximal (1.6-2.2 m AGL) RGB and multispectral (with near infrared, green and blue band) image data were strongly correlated (r up to 0.89) with visual rating scores, especially in pea and canola. The features extracted from unmanned aerial vehicle integrated RGB image data (15-30 m AGL) could also accurately detect and quantify large flowers of winter canola (r up to 0.84), spring canola (r up to 0.72), and pea (r up to 0.72), but not camelina or chickpea flowers. When standard image processing using thresholds and unsupervised machine learning such as k-means clustering were utilized for flower detection and feature extraction, the results were comparable. In general, for applicability of imaging for flower detection, it is recommended that the image data resolution (i.e., ground sampling distance) is at least 2-3 times smaller than that of the flower size. Overall, this study demonstrates the feasibility of utilizing imaging for monitoring flowering intensity in multiple varieties of evaluated crops.

Biofortification of Pulse Crops: Status and Future Perspectives

Biofortification through plant breeding is a sustainable approach to improve the nutritional profile of food crops. The majority of the world's population depends on staple food crops; however, most are low in key micronutrients. Biofortification to improve the nutritional profile of pulse crops has increased importance in many breeding programs in the past decade. The key micronutrients targeted have been iron, zinc, selenium, iodine, carotenoids, and folates. In recent years, several biofortified pulse crops including common beans and lentils have been released by HarvestPlus with global partners in developing countries, which has helped in overcoming micronutrient deficiency in the target population. This review will focus on recent research advances and future strategies for the biofortification of pulse crops.

Genotype and Environment Effects on Prebiotic Carbohydrate Concentrations in Kabuli Chickpea Cultivars and Breeding Lines Grown in the U.S. Pacific Northwest

Prebiotic carbohydrates are compounds that include simple sugars, sugar alcohols, and raffinose family oligosaccharides, which are fermented by gut bacteria and can influence the species profile of the gut microbiome to reduce obesity and weight gain. Prebiotic carbohydrates are also associated with several health benefits including reduced insulin dependence and incidence of colorectal cancer. Although pulse crops such as chickpea have been important sources of nutrition for human diets for thousands of years, relatively little is known about the profiles of prebiotic carbohydrates in pulse crops. The objectives of this study were to characterize the type and concentration of seed prebiotic carbohydrates in 18 kabuli chickpea genotypes grown in 2017 and 2018 in Idaho and Washington, and partition variance components conditioning these nutritional quality traits in chickpea. Genotype effects were significant for fructose, sucrose, raffinose, and kestose. Environment effects were also significant for several carbohydrates. However, year effects were the greatest sources of variance for all carbohydrates. Concentrations of most carbohydrates were significantly greater in 2017, when there was less precipitation during the growing season coupled with greater heat stress during grain filling than in 2018. This may reflect the role of many of these carbohydrates as osmoprotectants produced in response to heat and water stress. Overall, our results suggest that a survey of more genetically diverse plant materials, such as a chickpea 'mini-core' collection, may reveal genotypes that produce significantly greater concentrations of selected prebiotic carbohydrates and could be used to introduce desirable nutritional traits into adapted chickpea cultivars.