Supplementary irrigations at different physiological growth stages of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) change grain nutritional composition.

Chickpea is one the most important legumes consumed all around the world because of high protein content. The current study was conducted to investigate the effects of irrigation treatments at different physiological growth stages (before flowering, beginning of flowering, pod-set and pod-fill periods) on nutritional attributes of chickpea. The findings showed that one or two irrigations at different physiological growth stages instead of full irrigation treatment might be sufficient to improve the nutritional attributes of chickpea. Flowering and pod-fill periods were identified as the critical periods for irrigations and affected the nutritional component levels. The greatest protein level (29.52%) was obtained from the samples irrigated before flowering while the greatest total starch (36.30%) was obtained from the samples irrigated at the beginning of flowering. It was concluded based on present findings that physiological growth stages should be taken into consideration in irrigation practices of chickpea farming.

Phytic acid content and starch properties of maize (Zea mays L.): Effects of irrigation process and nitrogen fertilizer.

In the present study, the effects of different irrigation levels (I50: 50%; I75: 75%; and I100: 100% of depleted water from field capacity) and nitrogen fertilizer concentrations (N1:100, N2:200 and N3:300 kg ha-1N) on starch properties (total, resistant and nonresistant starch, amylose-amylopectin ratios) and phytic acid content of maize were investigated. The single and interaction effects of the treatments and also influence of harvesting year were evaluated. Total starch accumulation changed with the treatments and the highest values were obtained from I50 and N3 combination and the lowest levels were recorded for I100-N1 and I100-N2 treatments. Amylopectin increased with the effect of irrigation, while the amylose decreased with the irrigation treatment in parallel to amylopectin content. Besides, the lowest phytic acid level was also obtained from the treatments of I100 and N1. This study would provide some valuable information for agricultural and nutritional applications of maize.