<p>Scientists have mapped the genome of chickpea, which may lead to the development of high-yielding varieties of the pulse consumed widely in India.<br /><br />The breakthrough, achieved through a collaboration between 23 academic institutes in Asia, Europe and the USA, including three Indian farm research centres and Hyderabad-based International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), has led to the discovery of 28,269 genes in the chickpea genome, some of which can be used to develop improved varieties.<br /><br />“At present, chickpea yield is stagnated between 700-900 kg per hectare. But it can go up. Proper identification of genes from the genome map may lead to faster breeding of new varieties,” Swapan Kumar Datta, Deputy Director General (Crop Sciences) at the Indian Council of Agriculture Research and one of the team members told Deccan Herald.<br /><br />Chickpea is the world’s second most widely grown legume after soybean, accounting for a substantial proportion of human dietary nitrogen intake. With more than 85 lakh tonnes of annual production, India is the world’s highest producer of the bean that supplies protein to the poor.<br /><br />The candidate genes were identified after the draft genome sequence was compared with known genes from 90 cultivated and wild varieties of chickpeas from 10 countries.<br />“The genetic diversity of chickpea is so narrow from other legume species, we could not undertake any crop development programme for chickpea. The new knowledge would help in creating better varieties either by molecular breeding or transgenic route,” Datta said.<br /><br />In India, though the area under chickpea cultivation increased from 6.45 million ha in 1992-93 to 8.56 million ha in 2009-10, the country still imports the pulse from Australia and Canada to meet the growing demand. There are two broad categories – desi and kabuli – used to make bason (gram flour) and consumed as a pulse respectively.<br /><br /> In much of the world, chickpea is cultivated in semi-arid environments and on soils of poor agricultural quality. Being susceptible to drought and fungal diseases, chickpea yield is restricted to less than one ton per ha, which is considerably below the theoretical potential, the team reported in January 27 issue of Nature Biotechnology. </p>.<p>The draft genome sequence of a Canadian kabuli chickpea variety, widely cultivated and resistant to several important fungal diseases, including Ascochyta blight, and pod borer insects, will eventually aid in improving the productivity of chickpea, particularly in the resource-poor environments.<br /><br />“As a majority of chickpea production is done in semi-arid tropic regions, we have a major reason to improve drought tolerance in chickpea. We would like to have higher yield under drought conditions. We are in the process of developing superior lines through molecular breeding," said Rajiv Varshney, lead author of the paper from ICRISAT. <br /></p>
<p>Scientists have mapped the genome of chickpea, which may lead to the development of high-yielding varieties of the pulse consumed widely in India.<br /><br />The breakthrough, achieved through a collaboration between 23 academic institutes in Asia, Europe and the USA, including three Indian farm research centres and Hyderabad-based International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), has led to the discovery of 28,269 genes in the chickpea genome, some of which can be used to develop improved varieties.<br /><br />“At present, chickpea yield is stagnated between 700-900 kg per hectare. But it can go up. Proper identification of genes from the genome map may lead to faster breeding of new varieties,” Swapan Kumar Datta, Deputy Director General (Crop Sciences) at the Indian Council of Agriculture Research and one of the team members told Deccan Herald.<br /><br />Chickpea is the world’s second most widely grown legume after soybean, accounting for a substantial proportion of human dietary nitrogen intake. With more than 85 lakh tonnes of annual production, India is the world’s highest producer of the bean that supplies protein to the poor.<br /><br />The candidate genes were identified after the draft genome sequence was compared with known genes from 90 cultivated and wild varieties of chickpeas from 10 countries.<br />“The genetic diversity of chickpea is so narrow from other legume species, we could not undertake any crop development programme for chickpea. The new knowledge would help in creating better varieties either by molecular breeding or transgenic route,” Datta said.<br /><br />In India, though the area under chickpea cultivation increased from 6.45 million ha in 1992-93 to 8.56 million ha in 2009-10, the country still imports the pulse from Australia and Canada to meet the growing demand. There are two broad categories – desi and kabuli – used to make bason (gram flour) and consumed as a pulse respectively.<br /><br /> In much of the world, chickpea is cultivated in semi-arid environments and on soils of poor agricultural quality. Being susceptible to drought and fungal diseases, chickpea yield is restricted to less than one ton per ha, which is considerably below the theoretical potential, the team reported in January 27 issue of Nature Biotechnology. </p>.<p>The draft genome sequence of a Canadian kabuli chickpea variety, widely cultivated and resistant to several important fungal diseases, including Ascochyta blight, and pod borer insects, will eventually aid in improving the productivity of chickpea, particularly in the resource-poor environments.<br /><br />“As a majority of chickpea production is done in semi-arid tropic regions, we have a major reason to improve drought tolerance in chickpea. We would like to have higher yield under drought conditions. We are in the process of developing superior lines through molecular breeding," said Rajiv Varshney, lead author of the paper from ICRISAT. <br /></p>
