Icrisat identifies 40 germplasm lines of chickpea

Findings expected to help small farmers

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) has identified 40 germplasm lines of chickpea with resistance to extreme weather conditions such as drought, high temperature and salinity.

A diverse chickpea mini core germplasm collection consisting of 211 lines was systematically evaluated to identify beneficial traits such as high yield and drought tolerance in the 40 lines.

According to Icrisat, the evaluation of this collection also helped the institute's genebank team identify 31 lines with resistance to pests and diseases. Six germplasm lines of chickpea are found to have resistance for both extreme weather and for pests and diseases.

The latest findings are stated to be the result of a 14-year effort by the team led by Hari D Upadhyaya, head of genebank at Icrisat.

"Climate change is here and is happening. We have been experiencing extreme weather events like the severe floods in India last year that devastated the northern states and recently, Typhoon Haiyan that ravaged the Philippines. You will see more of these extreme events, which will also adversely affect agriculture. Under these circumstances, the findings by the Icrisat genebank team will help the smallholder farmers close crop yield gaps significantly," Icrisat director general, William Dar, stated in a release.

Chickpea is an important legume in the world, with a total worldwide production of 11.6 million tonnes from 13.2 million hectares of land. India accounts for 70.7 per cent of the world chickpea production while Australia, Turkey, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Iran and Pakistan are among other important chickpea producers. It is grown as a winter crop in India (Oct-Nov to Mar-Apr) on receding soil moisture, mostly on marginal soils.