Bioenergetic assessment of chickpea varieties (Cicer arietinum L.) in the Lower Volga region

Abstract

Among leguminous crops, chickpeas is the best in its high ecological adaptability and unique ability to produce significant grain yields in arid conditions. The growing demand for seeds, both domestically and for export, causes an urgent necessity to develop varieties with increased grain productivity and quality. Therefore, a comprehensive assessment of the initial breeding material is of great relevance in the experimental work. The purpose of the current work was to conduct a bioenergetic assessment of green mass and seeds of chickpea varieties from the VIR collection under aridity of the Lower Volga region. There has been estimated gross energy based on the nutrients in chickpea seeds and green mass. There has been found that gross energy per 1 kg of chickpea seeds ranged from 19.39 to 19.70 MJ, while gross energy per 1 kg of dry biomass ranged from 16.47 to 17.52 MJ. Gross energy per 1 kg of biomass at harvesting ranged from 4.15 to 4.73 MJ. There have been identified the samples k-572 and k-2307 with high energy intensity per 1 kg of seeds, and the samples k-572 and k-1724 (Uzbekistan 8) with high energy intensity per 1 kg of dry biomass. The highest proportion of nutrients in the energy value of seeds (over 30%) was found in the chickpea varieties k-434, k-388, k-572, and k-2307. The varieties k-388, k-434, k-572, k-2307 can be used as initial material in chickpea breeding due to protein percentage in seeds, the varieties k-16 (Kubansky 16), k-23 ТУРЕ 4, k-572, k-1238 Krymsky 150, k-1241 Kinelsky 17, k-2307, k-2799 (87AK71112), k-3073 (ILC-1799) due to oil content in seeds.