Antioxidant is any substance that delays, prevents or removes oxidative damage to a target molecule. It can be found in many foods, including fruits and vegetables. The role of antioxidants in foods is to retard or control oxidation. The process of autoxidation and development of rancidity in foods involves a free radical chain mechanism via initiation, propagation and termination steps. While radicals are produced in the 'initiation' step, they react with unsaturated fatty acids by abstracting a hydrogen atom from a site which requires the least energy that is the allylic or diallylic position in the 'propagation' steps. The reactions in the propagation step make up a chain reaction until a 'termination' reaction occurs. Due to high stability and low volatility, it helps to maintain the level of nutrients, the texture, colour, taste, freshness, functionality, aroma, and appeal to consumers such as the older person. Various antioxidants found in food viz. natural antioxidants, synthetic antioxidants, dietary antioxidant, endogenous antioxidant play an important role in preservation of food. Vitamin C, Vitamin E, α-carotene, Lycopene, Polyphenol etc. is main sources of antioxidants. They may be present in foods as endogenous factors or may be added to preserve their lipid components from quality deterioration. The most widely used antioxidants in foods include butylated hydroxyl anisole (BHA), butylated hydroxyl toluene (BHT), propyl gallate (PG) and tertiary butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ). These antioxidants may be used at 200 ppm in bulk oils and at 200 ppm, based on the lipid content of other foods. The benefits of antioxidants include whole foods and beverages (e.g., acai berry, gogi berry, green tea) as well as isolated substances sold primarily as dietary supplements (e.g., vitamin C, lycopene, selenium) or added to foods (e.g., vitamin E). It reduces the risk of developing certain diseases such as; cancer, heart disease, stroke, and arthritis etc.

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Chickpea is the fourth most important legume crop contributing 3.1% to the total legume production and rich source of proteins, minerals and vitamins. Genetic diversity of wild and elite cultivar is quintessential for variety improvement. Determination of genetic diversity is more reliable and accurate, therefore, commonly used. In the present study, we analyzed the genetic diversity, population structure, cross-species transferability and allelic richness in 50 chickpea collection using 23 ISSR markers. The observed parameters such as allele number varied from 3 to 16,and polymorphic information content (PIC) varied from 0.15 to 0.4988, respectively. Further, range of allele size varied from 150 to 1600 bp, which shows the significance of ISSR markers for chickpea germplasm characterization. On the basis of ISSR marker genotypic data, dendrogram was constructed which divides these 50 chickpea in group I and II showing the reliability of ISSR markers. Among 50 chickpea, the accession P 74-1 is in group I and rest are in group II. Further we made mini-core collection of 15 diverse chickpea and sub-grouped them. Dendrogram, PCA, Dissimilarity matrix and Bayesian model based genetic clustering of 50 chickpea germplasms revealed that P 74-1 and P 1883are very diverse chickpea accession. Further selected 15 diverse chickpea screened for early flowering and high seed germination. Among 15 diversechickpea germplasms P 1857-1 and P 3971 has early flowering and high seed germination compared to P 1883 and other germplasm. Characterization of these diverse chickpea for early flowering and high seed germinationwould help in reducing crop duration and enhancing seed qualities. Utilization of these ISSRs markers in diversity analysis and population structure characterization of 50 chickpea germplasm suggests their wider efficacy for molecular breeding ofearly flowering and high seed germination.