Author contributions
Yi Zhou and Matthew D Denton designed the study and interpreted all of the data. Yi Zhou conducted all the experiments. Yi Zhou and Matthew D Denton wrote the article. Sheikh Rabbi and Iain M Young conducted the micro-CT scanning to analyse the rhizosphere soil architecture and interpreted the results. David Fuentes, Andrew Merchant, and Brent N Kaiser undertook the root exudates analysis and interpreted the results. Jishun Li and Yanli Wei did the amplicon sequencing and interpreted the results. Yongle Li performed the genomic analysis of chickpea genotypes and interpreted the results. All authors contributed to revising the manuscript, and approved the final submission.