Efficacy of two different forms of selenium towards reduction of arsenic toxicity and accumulation in Cicer arietinum L.

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.

Enhancement of extraction efficiency and functional properties of chickpea protein isolate using pulsed electric field combined with ultrasound treatment.

Chickpea protein isolate (CPI) is a promising dietary protein with the advantages of low allergenicity, easy digestion and balanced composition of essential amino acids. However, due to the thick skin of chickpeas, the extraction of CPI is challenging, resulting in lower efficiency of the alkaline extraction-isoelectric precipitation (AE-IEP) method. Therefore, the present study investigated the effect of pulsed electric field combined with ultrasound (PEF-US) treatment on the extraction efficiency of CPI and the functional properties was characterized. Parameter optimization was carried out using response surface methodology (RSM), with the following optimized conditions: pulse duration of 87 s, electric field intensity of 0.9 kV/cm, ultrasonic time of 15 min, and ultrasonic power of 325 W. Under the optimized conditions, the yield of CPI after combined (PEF-US) treatment was 13.52 ± 0.13 %, which was a 47.28 % improvement over the AE-IEP method. This yield was better than that obtained with either individual PEF or US treatment. Additionally, the functional properties (solubility, emulsification, and foaming) of CPI were significantly enhanced compared to AE-IEP. However, the stability of emulsification and foaming did not show significant differences among the four methods. The PEF-US method efficiently extracts CPI with excellent functional properties, enabling the production of proteins as desired functional additives in the food industry.

A Next-Generation Combinatorial Genomic Strategy Scans Genomic Loci Governing Heat Stress Tolerance in Chickpea.

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.

Influence of chickpea protein on the pH and temperature dependent viscosity of carboxymethylated starch.

Proteins can significantly improve the elasticity and microstructure of starch gels in food. In this work, the influence of chickpea protein flour on the viscoelastic behaviour of carboxymethylated starch (CMS, 92.6 mmol COOH kg-1) gels was studied as function of pH and temperature. A weight ratio CMS:protein flour of 1:0.45 was investigated in the pH range of pH 2.5-8. Above pH 7 presence of 7.5 %w/w chickpea flour lead to an increase in complex viscosity of a 16.5 %w/w CMS solution by a factor of 10. The interaction between CMS and protein above pH 4 accelerates gelation at 37 °C, resulting in an increase in viscosity by a factor of 5, 10 and 120 at pH 5, pH 7 and pH 8 respectively. Model calculations for species dissociation of ammonium groups in basic amino acids and carboxylate groups in CMS indicate that electrostatic interactions led to the observed increase in viscosity. The results form a general model to explain the pH-dependent viscoelastic behaviour of polysaccharide-protein mixtures. The understanding of the mechanism of action between protein and polysaccharides is a condition for targeted analysis and explanation of many phenomena of texture, stability and coacervate formation in food processing.

Effect of chickpea protein modified with combined heating and high-pressure homogenization on enhancing the gelation of reduced phosphate myofibrillar protein.

The effects of chickpea protein (CP) modified by heating and/or high-pressure homogenization (HPH) on the gelling properties of myofibrillar protein under reduced phosphate conditions (5 mM sodium triphosphate, STPP) were investigated. The results showed that heating and HPH dual-modified CP could decrease the cooking loss by 29.57 %, elevate the water holding capacity by 17.08 %, and increase the gel strength by 126.88 %, which conferred myofibrillar protein with gelation performance comparable with, or even surpassing, that of the high-phosphate (10 mM STPP) control. This gelation behavior improvement could be attributed to enhanced myosin tail-tail interactions, decreased myosin thermal stability, elevated trans-gauche-trans disulfide conformation, strengthened hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonding, the uncoiling of α-helical structures, the formation of well-networked myofibrillar protein gel, and the disulfide linkages between the myosin heavy chain, actin, and CP subunits. Therefore, the dual-modified CP could be a promising phosphate alternative to develop healthier meat products.

Modeling Chickpea Productivity with Artificial Image Objects and Convolutional Neural Network.

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.

Identification of Insertion and Deletion (InDel) Markers for Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Based on Double-Digest Restriction Site-Associated DNA Sequencing.

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.

Relative multi-beneficial effect of MOs on plant health of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L. var. PG-186).

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 P2O5/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 P2O5 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 P2O5.

Harnessing chickpea bacterial endophytes for improved plant health and fitness.

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.

First Report of Bean Leafroll Virus in Pea and Chickpea, in Canada.

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_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.

Trichoderma based formulations control the wilt disease of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris, better when inoculated as consortia: findings from pot experiments under field conditions.

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. oxysporumby 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.

O-Methylated Isoflavones Induce nod Genes of Mesorhizobium ciceri and Pratensein Promotes Nodulation in Chickpea.

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.

Effect of cooking conditions on chickpea flour functionality and its protein physicochemical properties.

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 H2O/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.

Population and genetic diversity of rhizobia nodulating chickpea in Indo-Gangetic plains of India.

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.

Identifying dryland-resilient chickpea genotypes for autumn sowing, with a focus on multi-trait stability parameters and biochemical enzyme activity.

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.

Improvement of glucolipid metabolism and oxidative stress via modulating PI3K/Akt pathway in insulin resistance HepG2 cells by chickpea flavonoids.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a significant dietary source of flavonoids and the hypoglycemic activity were investigated in this study. Firstly, total twenty nine chickpea flavonoids were identified by UPLC-MS/MS with ononin, cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, astragalin, cynaroside, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside, biochanin A, and daidzin being the most abundant among them. Our results demonstrated that chickpea flavonoids regulated glucose metabolism and lipid metabolism, and reduced oxidative stress in insulin resistance HepG2 cells. Furthermore, insulin resistance was ameliorated by chickpea flavonoids through the activation of insulin receptor substrate1 (IRS1), phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), and phosphorylated protein kinase B (Akt) in HepG2 cells. More importantly, key differential metabolites include L-tryptophan, L-tyrosine, l-glutamine and linoleic acid were reserved by chickpea flavonoids and correlated with glucolipid metabolism and oxidative stress in IR-HepG2 cells. In conclusion, these results indicated that chickpea flavonoids might act as potential natural products regulating insulin resistance in HepG2 cells.

Effect of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Flour Incorporation on Quality, Antioxidant Properties, and Bioactive Compounds of Shortbread Cookies.

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.

Role of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) and Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Ratio in Physicochemical Stability and Microbiological Quality of Fermented Plant-Based Beverages during Storage.

Three different fermented plant-based beverages were prepared and stored for a long period (50 days) to assess the effect of the quinoa-to-chickpea ratio on physicochemical stability and microbiological quality. Physicochemical stability was evaluated based on pH, acidity, Brix degrees, water-holding capacity (WHC), viscosity, and viscoelasticity. At the end of the long-term storage period, the pH, acidity, and WHC remained stable. During the entire storage period, the beverages maintained good bacterial, fungal, and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) counts. Quinoa and chickpea flour ratios of 50% showed a higher viscosity (18 Pa.s) and WHC (65%) during short-term storage (0-30 d), indicating that the presence of chickpea flour had a positive effect on these parameters, possibly because chickpea starch contains higher amounts of amylose and long-branch chain amylopectin, which impacts the retrogradation pattern under acidic and refrigerated conditions. However, at the end of storage (50 days), the same blend had a higher acidity, lower viscosity (0.78 Pa.s), and lower LAB counts (~1 × 108 CFU/mL), indicating that the increase in chickpea flour had an adverse long-term effect on these parameters. These results suggest that although different ratios of plant sources can improve the physical aspects, they need to be incorporated in a balanced manner to avoid negative effects on both short- and long-term storage, owing to the incorporation of different types of starches and proteins affecting the stability of the system.

Identification and Function Analysis of Novel Hypoglycemic and Antioxidant Peptides from Chickpea.

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.

The effect of pH shifting on the calcium-fortified milk analogue with chickpea protein.

Milk alternative attracts more attention due to nutrition benefits, but the low solubility and the calcium deficiency of plant protein hinder the development of milk alternatives. Therefore, pH shifting was optimized to improve chickpea protein solubility and calcium fortification while ensuring good digestibility. The results showed that pH shifting reduced the particle size from 2197.67 ± 178.2 nm to 80.2 ± 2 nm, and increased the net ζ potential from -0.48 ± 0.24 to -21.27 ± 0.65 due to the unfolding of secondary protein structure, by which chickpea protein bring better solution stability. Additionally, the whiteness of the solution with chickpea protein increased. The calcium addition kept the solution stable with small particle size despite a slight increase. The microstructure of chickpea protein during digestion was well disrupted even with fortifying calcium. This study provides proof of the positive effect of pH shifting on chickpea protein stability and calcium fortification.