Identification and morphological characterization of promising kabuli chickpea genotypes for short-season environment in central India.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important food legume crop grown in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. In India, kabuli chickpea is grown in central India in ~0.5 million ha, predominantly under short winter (<110 days). Efforts are underway to select promising genotypes at the Food Legume Research Platform (FLRP), Amlaha, located in intensive kabuli chickpea growing area of India. Sixty-four kabuli chickpea lines were evaluated for agronomic traits during 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 crop seasons at FLRP following simple 8 X 8 lattice design with two replications. The analysis of variance over two years revealed significant variation exists for days to flowering, plant height, maturity period, biomass, seed size and seed yield. It was observed that with similar maturity time (106 days), FLIP09-432C produced 2273 kg/ha, which out-yielded the popular variety in central India, JGK-3 by 15%. The breeding lines, FLIP09- 436C, FLIP09-171C, FLIP09-373C and FLIP09-247C were also found promising for earliness (104-110 days), and high yielding with the good yield ability (1003-2273 kg/ha). These promising genotypes for a short duration with good yield have been selected and can be used for various chickpea breeding programmes to develop high yielding varieties in central India.

Evaluation of disease resistant and high yielding faba bean germplasm in India.

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is one of the earliest domesticated food legumes after chickpea and pea in the world. It is been produced in many countries including China, Ethiopia, Egypt, northern Europe, the Mediterranean region, central Asia, East Asia, Latin America and as a minor crop in India. The crop is affected by many diseases and alternaria leaf blight (Alternaria spp.) is one of the serious threat to faba bean production. Twenty-five lines of faba bean were selected from three international nurseries and were evaluated at ICARDA-FLRP-Amlaha during 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, to identify resistant lines against alternaria blight disease. A wide range of variation to disease reaction was observed among faba bean genotypes. One faba bean line (S2011-134) found tolerant, six genotypes (S2011-116, FLIP15-139, FLIP15-156, FLIP15-159, FLIP15-164-S2 and FLIP15-169) were found moderately tolerant and 16 genotypes were found susceptible to alternaria blight. The faba bean genotypes showed resistance to the disease scoring (0-9) with high yield as compared to the checks, Giza and Gwalior local. The identified sources of resistance can be utilized in faba bean breeding programmes for the development of disease tolerant cultivars with high yield.

Rediscovering the Potential of Multifaceted Orphan Legume Grasspea- a Sustainable Resource With High Nutritional Values.

The genus Lathyrus consists of more than 184 herbaceous annual and perennial species suitable for multifaceted sustainable food and feed production system in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. The grasspea is a promising source of protein nutrition. However, its potential is not being utilized fully due to the presence of neurotoxin content (ß-N-oxalyl-l-α, ß diaminopropionic acid, ß-ODAP), a causal agent of non-reversible lower limbs paralysis. The high protein contents in seeds and leaves with ~90% digestibility make it sustainable super food to beat protein malnutrition in future. Therefore, it is desired to breed new grasspea cultivars with low ß-ODAP contents. Limited research has been carried out to date about this feature. A draft genome sequence of grasspea has been recently published that is expected to play a vital role in breeding and identifying the genes responsible for biosynthesis pathway of ß-ODAP contents in grasspea. Efforts to increase awareness about the importance of genus Lathyrus and detoxify ß-ODAP in grasspea are desired and are in progress. Presently, in South Asia, systematic and dedicated efforts to support the farmers in the grasspea growing regions by disseminating low ß-ODAP varieties has resulted in a considerable improvement in reducing the incidence of neurolathyrism. It is expected that the situation will improve further by mainstreaming grasspea cultivation by implementing different approaches such as the development and use of low ß-ODAP varieties, strengthening government policies and improved detox methods. The present review provides insight into the multifaceted characteristics of sustainable nutritious grasspea in the global and Indian perspective.