Impact of Salt stress on Carbohydrate Metabolism in Cicer arietinum L

Cereals are used as an important food of Indian diet. They are an important source of carbohydrates and proteins, so they are essential to a predominant diet. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the important crops of India, mainly grown for their seeds which contain 20.6% protein, 2.2% fat and 61.2% carbohydrate, ranking next to wheat and barley both in acreage and in the production of grain. The major portion of crop production is consumed by the people in many forms like Dal, Besan, Crushed or whole grain, boiled or roasted gram or in sweet preparation. It is also used as a protein-rich diet for horses, and other cattle in the forms of soaked grain. Keeping the above views several Cicer varieties will be screened for their salt tolerance behaviour. Salt tolerant and salt susceptible variety will be selected for further comparative studies to expect that the findings of the present investigation would not only help with a better understanding of the mechanism of salt tolerant behaviour of Cicer at the physiological and biochemical levels and also suggest possibilities of selecting a variety suitable for salt stress condition.