Frontier research in Pulses improvement: Sustaining the higher productivity and resilience to stresses in SAARC Region Pooran Gaur ICRISAT, Patancheru, Hyderabad, India 32nd SAARC Charter Day and International Year of Pulses 2016 8 December 2016, SAC-Dhaka, Bangladesh

Mandated Pulse Crops of ICRISAT

Chickpea Pigeonpea

14.7 m ha 6.7 m ha

Frontier research in Pulses improvement

• Rapid development of cultivars and enhancing genetic gains (Improving precision and efficiency of breeding programs)

• Enhanced yield stability and resilience to climate change

• Adaptation to existing and evolving cropping systems

• Varieties with labor saving traits

• Enhanced nutritional and grain quality

Development of genomic resources in Pulses • Draft genome sequence available for major pulses. of

pigeonpea, chickpea (Nature Biotechnology 2013) and the two diploid ancestors (A. duranensis and A. ipaensis) of cultivated groundnut (Nature Genetics 2016).

• Re-sequencing of 3000 germplasm lines and 1132 MAGIC lines in chickpea and 300 lines of reference set in pigeonpea.

• Millions of genetic markers and high density 50K SNP array.

• Several genetic populations such as biparentals, multiparentals (MAGIC and NAM), association mapping panels and training populations

• High density genetic maps and consensus maps.

• Mapped QTLs/genes for important traits through linkage mapping and identified marker-trait associations (MTAs) through association mapping.

Improving precision in phenotyping

Rapid development of cultivars

Rapid homozygosity

Double haploid technology

Rapid generation turnover

Restructuring of plant type for bringing a breakthrough in productivity

Development of short-statured, early (100-120 days) and super early (<100 days) varieties in pigeonpea

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) system based hybrids

Exploitation of heterosis for enhancing yield - Hybrid pigeonpea

Male sterility

Cross-pollination by insects

ICPH 2671 in on-farm trials

States Hybrid Control % Gain

Maharashtra 969 717 35

Andhra Pradesh 1411 907 56

Karnataka 1201 951 26

Jharkhand 1460 864 69

Madhya Pradesh 1940 1326 46

Mean 1396 953 47

Yield advantages of hybrid pigeonpea

Greater exploitation of genetic variability existing in the germplasm of cultivated and wild species and induced through mutagenesis

Combining favorable genes by developing MAGIC (multi-parent advance

generation intercross) populations

28 2-way

14 4-way

7 8-way

(A) ICC 4958 (C) JAKI 9218 (E) JG 130 (G) ICCV 97105

(B) ICCV 10 (D) JG 11 (F) JG 16 (H) ICCV 00108

MAGIC population/lines developed in chickpea using 8 parents

Tolerance to abiotic stresses

• Drought

• Temperature extremes (high/low)

• Soil salinity

• Water logging

Marker-assisted breeding for improving drought tolerance in chickpea

• A genomic region (called QTL hotspot) harboring QTLs for root traits and various other drought tolerance related traits identified on LG 4.

• This genomic region has been introgressed into several cultivars (JG 11 , ICCV 10, JAKI 9218, JG 16) using 3 cycles of marker-assisted backcrossing.

• Several MABC lines superior to the recurrent parents have been identified.

Large genetic variations for heat tolerance in chickpea

Sensitive Tolerant

Sensitive Tolerant

Large genetic variations for heat tolerance in chickpea

Genetic variation for heat tolerance in reference set (n=300) of chickpea

Molecular mapping of QTLs for heat tolerance in chickpea

Two key genomic regions harbouring several QTLs for heat tolerance associated traits identified on CaLG05 and CaLG06 based on ICC 4567 × ICC 15614 RILs

Resistance to multiple diseases

Resistance to insect-pests

Strategies Transfer of resistance from wild species Development of transgenics

Wild species

Breeding cultivars suitable for different cropping systems

Wide variation in sowing dates due to increasing intensification of cropping systems

Farmers’ chickpea fields with diverse sowing dates in Andhra Pradesh state of India

Close to maturity At seedling stage Ready to harvest

A wide range in sowing time (e.g. Oct to Dec for chickpea in India)

29 Dec 2012

Cultivars suitable for cultivation in rice-fallows

Varietal traits desired for rice-fallows • Early seedling vigour • Early maturity • Reproductive stage drought and heat tolerance • Resistance to fusarium wilt

Developing early and super early varieties

Mechanization of farm operations

Wheat

Chickpea

Developing grain legume cultivars suitable to mechanical harvesting

Development of machine harvestable chickpea varieties

Development of machine harvestable chickpea varieties

Machine harvestable chickpea varieties released in India

• NBeG 47 (AP) - 2015 • GBM 2 (Karnataka) - 2015

Developing herbicide tolerant cultivars of pulses

Genetic variation for herbicide tolerance in chickpea (left) and lentil (right)

Increasing protein content by about 25%

Commercial varieties of chickpea and pigeonpea

High protein genotypes of chickpea (ICC 5912) and pigeonpea (HPL 8, HPL 40)

20-22% 26-27%

Doubling contents of iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn)

Commercial varieties of lentil High iron and zinc line (L 4704)

40-60 ppm Fe 25-35 ppm Zn

125 ppm Fe 74 ppm Zn

Enhanced Nutritional Quality

Market-preferred grain quality

Thank You