Final version of Tropical Legumes II Project Report for Phase 1 - icrisat

Chickpea Improvement in India: Baseline,
Breeding and Seed Systems
Pooran Gaur, CLL Gowda, ShaileshTripathi, Arvaind Jukanti, Suresh Pande, HC Sharma, Vincent
Vadez, L Krishnamurthy, GV Ranga Rao, Rajeev Varshney, MCS Bantilan, P Parthasarathy Rao, GD
Nageswara Rao, R Padmaja (ICRISAT-Patancheru, India); V Jayalakshmi, Y Satish, Y Koteshwar Rao,
ATrivikrama Reddy, P Muniratnam, K Suhasini (ANGRAU, Hyderabad); PM Salimath, GN Kulkarni,
VR Kiresur (UAS-Dharwad); DM Mannur (UAS-Raichur); with National Seed Corporation (NSC),
State Farms Corporation of India Limited (SFCI), Andhra Pradesh State Seed Development Corporation
(APSSDC), Karnataka State Seed Corporation (KSSC)
Summary
The chickpea activities were conducted in Andhra Pradesh (Kurnool and Prakasam districts) and
Karnataka (Dharwad and Gulbarga districts) states of India. The project partners include ICRISAT-
Patancheru; Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU), Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh;
University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (UAS-D), Karnataka; University of Agricultural Sciences,
Raichur (UAS-R), Karnataka; National Seed Corporation (NSC), State Farms Corporation of India
Limited (SFCI), Andhra Pradesh State Seed Development Corporation (APSSDC) and Karnataka State
Seed Corporation (KSSC).
The current status of adoption of improved varieties and traits preferred by the farmers were assessed
during a regional work planning meeting organized at ICRISAT-Patancheru at the beginning of the project.
Considering the requirements of target regions, the chickpea improvement program was focused on
developing breeding lines with high yield potential, early maturity, high resistance to Fusarium wilt and
market-preferred seed traits. ICRISAT supplied over 200 lines (117 desi + 92 kabuli) to NARS partners
in India and ESA. Early generation breeding materials were developed for resistance to Helicoverpa pod
borer through interspecific hybridization and promising lines have been identified. The research team
engaged in chickpea improvement activities of TL II and TL I projects was the same and thus there was a
good integration of research inputs and outputs between these two projects. Marker-assisted backcross
lines developed under TL I project have been distributed to TL II partners for evaluation.
Earlier studies indicated that adoption of improved chickpea varieties continued to remain low in TL
II target countries. Unawareness of farmers about the improved varieties and/or their useful traits and
inadequate availability of seed of improved varieties were among the major factors for poor adoption
of varieties. Farmer-participatory varietal selection (PVS) trials were conducted for exposing farmers to
improved varieties and allowing them to select varieties of their preference. The most preferred varieties
identified were JG 11, JAKI 9218 and JG 130 in Kurnool district; JG 11, JAKI 9218, JG 130 and KAK 2
in Prakasam district; and JG 11, BGD 103, JAKI 9218 and MNK 1 in Dharwad and Gulbarga districts.
The traits for which these varieties were preferred included, profuse podding, high productivity, early
maturity, resistance to Fusarium wilt, and market-preferred seed traits (e.g. medium seed size in desi
type and large seed size in kabuli type). All varieties included in the PVS trials were released varieties,
except BGD 102 and MNK 1 which were elite lines at pre-release stage. The results of PVS trials
strengthened release proposals of BGD 103 and MNK 1 and these were released in 2009 and 2010,
respectively.
Seed availability at local level is being enhanced by strengthening the formal as well as informal seed
production chain. During the past four years (2007/08 to 2010/11) a total of 1,207 MT Breeder Seed
and 886 MT Certified and Truthfully LabeledS of farmer preferred improved chickpea varieties was
produced by research partners. Close to 5,000 seed samples (2 kg to 20 kg) were also distributed to
Progress of Phase 1
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