Estimation of the physicochemical variation of chickpea seeds (Cicer arietinum L.)

A b s t r a c t. An attempt was made to assess the reaction of seeds to mechanical loads, taking into account their geometry expressed as seed thickness and 100 seed weight. The research material comprised the collection material of chickpeas representing various geographical regions in the world. Generally, the small-seeded accessions expressed by 100 seed weight were characteristic of the Desi type, with the lowest values of 12.3 and 14.6 g, respectively, concerning the seeds originating in Ethiopia and India, and the highest value (26.6 g) for the accession derived from Turkey. The large-seeded accessions were typical of the Kabuli type, with the highest value of 100 seed weight above 50 g obtained for the accession derived from Czech Republic. The obtained results allowed for selecting the chickpea accessions displaying a high resistance of seeds to static loading, from among both the Kabuli and Desi plant types. The average protein contents for the Kabuli and Desi seed types were on the same level (14.6%), ranging for all the accessions under analysis from 11.8% to 18.4%. The fat values ranged from 6.4% for Desi type No. 44 originating in Ethiopia, to 13.7% for Kabuli type No. 26 of Turkish origin, and the average content was slightly higher in the Kabuli seed type (8.73%) than in the Desi seed type (7.89%).