Grain Legumes Research

at ICRISAT RK Varshney and TEAM

Grain Legumes Research Program, ICRISAT

Food Legumes for health and prosperity

• Legumes are lifeline of farming systems globally

• Fix atmospheric nitrogen, make phosphorous

available

• Capable of growing in extreme conditions on marginal

soils

• Provide critical dietary protein, vitamins and minerals

to poorer section of society

• Impart sustainability to various farming systems and

environment

• Provide income and livelihood support to poor and

marginal farmers

Strategy

Grain legumes such as chickpea, pigeonpea and

groundnut are important complements to cereals.

Legumes more susceptible to pests and diseases,

thereby increasing the risk for smallholder farmers

and constrains the adoption of improved cultivars.

Breeding targets include biotic and abiotic stresses,

grain quality and nutritional traits, food safety,

improved nitrogen fixation, hybrids, and adaptation

to diverse dryland agro-ecosystems.

Use modern genomics and molecular tools, precise

phenotyping and crop simulation modeling.

Overcome seed system constraints.

Improvement of grain legumes

Past approach:

• Centralized Crop Improvement:

Favorable ecologies/better endowed farming

situations

Often lack of coherence between on-station and

on-farm performance

Emerging new approach:

• Participatory Varietal Section

Promising results in many crops

More suited for unfavorable and less endowed

farming conditions

Selection in target environments by farmers

themselves

New tools and techniques

• ICRISAT has 120,341 accessions

• 49,819 are grain legume germplasm

• Well characterized subsets, mini core collections in chickpea,

pigeonpea and groundnut

• Trait-specific, genetically diverse and agronomicaly desirable lines

identified for use in crop

improvement

Genetic Resources The source of improved germplasm

Infrastructure and support Modern science to improve efficiencies

• Centre for Excellence in Genomics (CEG)

• Platform for Translational Research in Transgenic crops (PTTC)

• High Throughput Phenotyping Platform

• Tissue culture and Wide Hybridization

• Detection of mycotoxins and viruses

The pigeonpea genome

• Illumina sequencing tech used

to generate 237.2 Gb

• 72.7% (605.78 Mb) of the total

pigeonpea genome assembled

into scaffolds

• Genome analysis has predicted

48,680 genes

• High levels of synteny

observed between pigeonpea

and soybean

• >50,000 SSR and SNP markers

identified

• Higher abundance of drought

tolerance genes

• Illumina sequencing used to

generate 153.01 Gb

• 73.8% of the genome is

captured in scaffolds

• Genome analysis predicted

28,269 genes

• High levels of synteny

observed between chickpea

and Medicago

• > 81,845 SSRs and 4.4 million

variants (SNPs and INDELs)

The chickpea genome

0

500

1000

1500

2000

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3000

3500

4000

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Yield

(kg/ha)

Irrigated

Rainfed

Introgression of drought tolerance QTLs into JG 11

Enhanced root length density

Upto 12% higher yield in rainfed conditions

Institution Cross/parents Current status

ICRISAT, India JG 11 × ICC 4958 20 BC3F5 lines

Chefe × ICC 8261 8 BC3F5 lines

KAK2 × ICC 8261 2 BC3F5 lines

ICCV 10 × ICC 4958 22 BC3F5

IIPR, India DCP92-3 × ICC 4958 60BC1F1

KWR 108 × ICC 4958 7 BC1F1

IARI, India Pusa 362 × ICC 4958 170 BC2F1

EIAR, Ethiopia Ejere × ICC 4958 384 BC2F1

Arerti × ICC 4958 27 BC3F4 lines

EU, Kenya ICCV 97105 × ICC 4958 33 BC3F1

ICCV 95423 × ICC 4958 10 BC3F5 lines

MABC for enhancing chickpea drought tolerance in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa

Introgression of rust resistance QTL in

three groundnut varieties

Marker based purity testing for hybrids in

pigeonpea

Saxena et al. 2011 Mol Breed;

Bohra et al. 2011 BMC Plant

Biol

ICPH 2438

ICPH 2671

Transgenic interventions for key target constraints in legumes

Efficient Transformation Systems @ ICRISAT

Groundnut

Pigeonpea

Chickpea

Product development time-line

T0’s Event Selection (GH) Event Selection (Fld) Regulatory Release

Groundnut

viral diseases

Chickpea

pod borer

Pigeonpea

pod borer

Groundnut GRAV PBNV

Groundnut TSV

Pigeonpea & Chickpea

Bt

Groundnut A, flavus

Pigeonpea & Groundnut ß-carotene

1-2 years 2-3 years 2-4 years 2-4 years

Groundnut drought

Groundnut ß-carotene

3-6

Translational Activities

(PTTC)

Chickpea DREB Groundnut

DREB

Pigeonpea & Chickpea

Bt

New Tools • RNAi • Proteomics

Networking with Indian Institutions CGIAR-wide initiatives through CRPs Explore collaborations with:

Bioscience Eastern and Central Africa (BecA)-ILRI hub NPAD’s African Bioscience Initiative (ABI) regional networks :

Southern African Network for Biosciences (SANBio) West African Biosciences Network (WABNet) North African Biosciences Network (NABNet)

FARA (Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa) Other regional organizations like AATF

Areas of Collaboration: Transgenic product development and testing Capacity building Technology transfer

Cooperation Initiatives on transgenics

• Breeding for earliness for drought-escape

• Emphasis on drought tolerance and WUE

• MAS for root mass and rooting depth (drought

tolerance)

• Resistance to major diseases (wilt, root rot)

• Transgenic approach for Helicoverpa resistance

• Good prospects as future health food

Chickpea

Key factors for chickpea revolution in

Andhra Pradesh

1. Availability of high yielding, short-duration, heat tolerant,

fusarium wilt resistant varieties well-adapted to short-

season, warmer environments of southern India.

2. High adoption of improved cultivars and production

technologies.

3. Transformation from subsistence to commercial cultivation

of chickpea.

4. Grain storage facilities available to farmers at local level

and at affordable cost

Chickpea research directed towards SSA

1. Evaluated chickpea trials and nurseries for high yield,

large seed size, Fusarium wilt, AB, drought tolerance.

2. Molecular breeding of chickpea for drought tolerance

by generating lines for Kenya and Ethiopia.

3. A QTL hotspot for root and related traits was

introgressed into several cultivars from South Asia

and sub-Sahran Africa (JG 11 , KAK 2, Chefe, ICCV 10, ICCV

97105, ICCV 95423, Ejere, Arerti) using 3 cycles of marker-

assisted backcrossing.

• Focus on early maturity and resistance to major

diseases

• Increased emphasis on tolerance to drought and WUE

• Large seeded types for confectionary purposes

• Transgenics for resistance to viruses and drought

tolerance

• Managing aflatoxin contamination for export

• Groundnut as food and nutritive crop for future

Groundnut

Variety releases in Phase II of Tropical Legumes II (TL II) project

that was implemented in 10 countries of ESA (4) and WCA (6)

• ESA: Three varieties (1 in Malawi and 2 in Tanzania)

recommended for release

• WCA: 13 varieties planned for release in five countries (Mali-4,

Niger-4, Nigeria-1, Ghana-2 and Burkina Faso-2).

Farmer participatory varietal selection (FPVS) trails

and entries in national evaluation trails

• ESA: 63 FPVS trials conducted in four countries involving 979 farmers

including 498 women.

• WCA: 30 elite lines evaluated in 56 trails using the mother- and- baby

methodology in 56 locations across 3 countries (Mali (35), Niger (4), and

Nigeria (17)). A total of 1473 women and 150 men involved in these trials.

• ESA+WCA: Over 40 elite lines entered for national performance evaluation

in different target countries.

Groundnut in SSA

• Women in Niger and Mali empowered in groundnut seed

production and marketing, and are using community-

based formal and informal seed systems scheme to

enhance their livelihoods.

• 16 women associations and 89 women farmers in Niger

and, Wacoro women association in Mali using CBO

schemes to produce and deliver over 243 tons of

groundnut seed in Niger and 10 tons in Mali.

Quantity of seed produced (kg) of different classes by women

and individual farmers in the Dosso region of Niger

Type of seed 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 Total

Basic 4472 7040 10950 22462

Certified 12243 25990 25680 37923

QDS 24630 54525 103630 182785

Total 41345 61565 140260 243170

Groundnut in SSA

• Varieties with range of maturity available (120-200

days)

• Resistant to wilt, SMD and Phytophthora

• Transgenic approach for Helicoverpa resistance

• Can be used to stabilize hill slopes

• Fodder for goat and cattle

• Hybrids have >47-64% yield over best control

• Seed production technology fine tuned

Pigeonpea

ICPH 2671 hybrid at Chautukoor, Jogipet, Sangareddy

ICPH 2671 on-farm trials (2007-10)

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

Success of hybrid pigeonpea

• Babati is a major pigeonpea growing area

• ICEAP 00040 and 00053 (resistant to wilt)

• Has 67% more yield, needs 37% lower production cost

• Adoption is about 30% in Babati

• IRR was 27-35%

• Smallholder farmers were major beneficiaries

Adoption of pigeonpea varieties in

Tanzania

• White and Bold seeded, more

seeds per pod, with vegetable

type attributes.

• Breeding of hybrid parental

lines (A, B and R Lines)

initiated at Patancheru during

2012 Kharif.

• ICPA 2199 (white seeded A line)

was crossed with 20 elite lines

in 2012. The maintainer and

restorer reaction of these

crosses is under study.

Pigeonpea: preferred traits for ESA

257 scientists (65 women) trained

Capacity building

Sera

h

Alic

e

Paul exam

inin

g t

he

cro

sses

Musa Jarso

marker analysis for

MABC crosses

Jimmy and Seleman

high throughput

analysis in

pigeonpea genomics

Summary • Legumes are important for human and

animal nutrition

• Opportunities for enhanced income

generations and livelihoods of farmers

• N2 fixation and nutrient cycling

• Leveraging advanced science from

HQs to SSA

• Diversity among legumes to suit varied

niches

• Promote sustainability of production

systems

• National programs need to invest in

legumes R4D

Thank you!