Agronomic Biofortification of Zinc in Chickpea Varieties

Pulses are a wonderful gift of nature to agriculture. They provide nutrition to human beings and animals. India is one of the major pulse growing country of the world, accounting roughly one-third of total area under pulse cultivation and one fourth of total production. Among the pulses, chickpea is an important rabi season crop with high acceptability and wider use in nutritional food basket.Chickpea is mainly grown in about more than 50 countries including India, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran, Myanmar, Australia, Ethopia, Canada, Mexico and Iraq.In Gujarat, the regions of Ghed and Bhalare the main chickpea growing areas. Micronutrients are essential for the normal growth of plants. In Saurashtra region, chickpea is grown as a low cost remunerative crop due to its lower water requirement and high market price as compared to other pulses. Zinc deficiency is one of the most frequently encountered micronutrient deficiencies in pulses in most of black cotton soils. Biofortification is regarded as one strategy to address the persistent burden of micronutrient malnutrition specifically by improving zinc concentration.