| GRAM (CHICKPEA) Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Introduction
Systematic research work on chickpea was started under the ambit of the All-India Co-ordinated Pulses Improvement Project commissioned in 1967. Initially, the programme was launched at 12 centres located in SAUs; headquarters of the project was at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. During 1972, the number of main and sub-centres went up to 7 and 9. In 1977, the project was upgraded Project Directorate and its headquarters was shifted to Regional Research Station of the IARI at Kanpur. During VI Plan the main centres, sub-centres and off-season nurseries increased to 15, 13 and 3. During VII Plan, 2 new centres were added and 2 others were provided with additional funds. In 1984, the office of the Project Director which is the headquarters of the AICPIP was redesignated as Directorate of Pulses Research (DPR). Realizing the importance of chickpea, an independent All-India Co-ordinated Project was launched in 1993 with 9 mandatory and 12 verifying centres. In the early fifties and sixties, the efforts were concentrated to select high-yielding genotypes from germplasm or landraces, without putting much energy on hybridization and selection programme. The first variety of chickpea, Chaffa having medium-size grain and early maturity (105-110 days) was developed in 1948 through selection in Niphad (Maharashtra). It gave 1.0 tonne/ha yield in rainfed areas. This variety is still in vogue in some parts of the country. The other variety CO 1 was developed through selection from Coimbatore Local and released in 1953 for rainfed black soils of Tamil Nadu. This had brownish yellow and medium-sized seeds with average yield of 1.0 tonne/ha. Between 1947 and 1960, several other varieties like RS 10 from Srigangnagar and Annegeri from Bangalore were released through selection from landraces, In 1960, C 235 was developed through hybridization (IP 58 x C 1234) at Ludhiana which is widely adaptable (suitable for rainfed areas), tolerant to Ascochyta blight, medium tall and has high-yield potential (2.0 – 2.5 tonnes/ha). In 1961-70, RS 11 was developed through selection from germplasm, for Rajasthan with average yield of 1.2-1.8 tonnes/ha. In the same period, a high-yielding, bold-seeded variety Radhey was developed through hybridization (197 x 76) for eastern and central Bundelkhand tracts of Uttar Pradesh. It had given an average yield of 2.0-2.5 tonnes/ha. And is still under cultivation in some parts of the central India. As a result of co-ordinated research efforts, more than 12 high-yielding varieties were developed through selection from germplasm and hybridization during 1971-80. Some of the important varieties developed through hybridization are: C 214 in 1971 from G 24 x IP 58 x G 24 at Hisar; G 130 in 1971 from 708 x C 235 and Hare Chole 1 in 1973 from S 26 x GG Bijapur at Ludhiana; B 108 in 1973 from N 31 x B 75 at Berhampore, which is tolerant to wilt; and H 208 was released in 1977, for rainfed and moisture retentive soils with 2.0 tonnes/ha yield developed through hybridization of S 26 x G 24 x C 235 at Hisar. BDN 9-3, a selection from Badnapur and L 550, a Kabuli chickpea variety, was developed in 1974 through cross of Pb 7 x Rabat with 20-25 g 100-seed weight and 2.0-2.5 tonnes/ha yield. In 1980, Pusa 209 developed from the cross of P 827 x C 255 at the IARI, New Delhi, has been released for rainfed and irrigated areas of north-west, north-east and central zone. It is resistant to wilt, root-rot and tolerant to grey mould and produces 2.2-3.0 tonnes/ha. The other important varieties developed during this period are H 335, G 543, Jyoti, CO 2, B 124 etc for various parts of the country. Small-seeded, high-yielding variety Pant G 114 developed in 1979 at Pantnagar for general cultivation in northern plains showed tolerance to wilt and Ascochyta blight. During 1981-90, breeding. Pusa 212, Pusa 244, Pusa 256, Pusa 261 through hybridization; Pusa 408, Pusa 413 and Pusa 417 through mutation have been developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. The Kabuli chickpea variety BG 267 was also developed through hybridization during the period. GL 769 and PBG 1 developed at Ludhiana have been released for wilt- and Ascochyta blight-affected areas. Several other promising varieties such as Gaurav, Haryana Chana 1, GNG 146, RSG 2, Vikas, Vishwas, Phule G 12, JG 62, JG 315, JG 74, Bheema, ICCC 37 (Kranti), ICCV 2 (Swetha), CO 3 and PDG 84-10 have been released for various parts of the country. Major thrust has been given on breeding for multiple resistant, drought tolerant and high-input responsive varieties since 1991. Breeding works have been initiated at different centres using sources of diseases and pest resistance, moisture-stress tolerance and relatively high-input responsive genotypes. Breeding material for rainfed and high input conditions has been generated. New sources of drought tolerance and high-input response have been identified from germplasm for utilization in breeding programmes. Several high-yielding and wilt-resistant lines are under testing. Wide hybridization involving wild species has shown wide range of variability with respect of maturity, pods/plant, branches/plant, basal profuse branching, plant type, seed size and seeds/pod. To bring additional area under chickpea cultivation, early-maturing genotypes were developed which can be planted up to mid December and fit well in the major cropping systems. The genetic yield potential of these genotypes varied from 20 to 30 tonnes/ha. Pusa 329, KGD 1168, Pusa 362, BDNG 154 and Vijay have also been released which have resistance to wilt. Studies were carried out to find out the extent of genotypic variability for response to high input (viz nitrogen and number of irrigations). To achieve breakthrough in productivity of chickpea, genotype like DCP 92-3 has been identified as agro-nomic base/donor to be used, as it has lodging tolerance under high-input conditions. In this phase of chickpea breeding, the varietal improvement broadly consisted of development of multiple disease and pest-resistant genotypes; development of varieties suitable for late-sown conditions and for rice fallow; development of high-input responsive varieties; and development of suitable plant types for intercropping and sole cropping with the aim to achieve higher yield per unit time and space with stability in performance. The search for improved plant type was initiated in eighties for breeding of chickpea with well-defined objectives. Through desi and Kabuli introgression and recombination breeding approaches, recently tall, compact and productive derivatives have been developed, which are being used in hybridization programme and some of them are being promoted for yield testing at the All-India level through the All-India Co-ordinated Project on Improvement of Chickpea. Induced mutagenesis has been undertaken at few places to generate desirable variability in chickpea. Wide range of induced genetic variability has been observed for morphological as well as polygenic traits. Some of the important macromutants are simple leaf, narrow leaf, tiny leaf miniature, dwarfs, compact, upright tall, short internode and compact, bold seeds, bushy growth and gigas plants. Through mutation-breeding programme, BGM 408 for north-west plain, BGM 413 for north-east plain and BGM 417 for central zone have been developed. BGM 417 is highly resistant to wilt, tolerant to collar rot, foot rot and root rot, and is suitable for cultivation in rainfed as well as irrigated areas. The other varieties like Rs 11 and RSG 2 have also been developed through mutation. In recent years, the scope for improvement of crops by transferring useful genes creating more variability and reconstituting genomes through wide hybridization has been realized. The genes from C. reticulatum, C. judaicum, C. bijugum, C. pinnatifidum and C. yamashitae have been transferred to C. arietinum, the cultivated chickpea. Crosses among wild species have also been reported, viz C. reticulatum x C. echinospermum, C. judaicum x C bijugum, C. pinnatifidum x C. bijugum and C. judaicum x C. bijugum, C. pinnatifidum x C. bijugum and C. judaicum x C pinnatifidum. Some of the useful traits present in wild species are resistance to Ascoghyta blight, wilt, Botrytis grey-mould, earliness, cold tolerance, multiseededness, high methionine content, high-tryptophan content. The segregants/derivatives of interspecific crosses have shown tremendous variability for maturity period, pods/plant, seeds/pod, 100-seed weight, branches/plant, number of basal secondary branches, at Ludhiana, Kanpur, Hyderabad, New Delhi, and several other locations. Some of the derivatives are under testing at the national level for yield and resistance to wilt, Ascochyta and Botrytis grey-mould. Several sources of resistance against biotic stresses have been identified during the last 50 years. Besides these donors, 6,214 active collections of chickpea have been made and these are being maintained at 23 centres of the All-India Co-ordinated Research Project on improvement of Chickpea. In different years most of these genotypes have been evaluated and considerable variability for several economic traits have been noticed. Projects on biotechnological researches were initiated in late eighties at several places and success in wide crosses through embryo-rescue has been achieved in chickpea. The work on identification of probable progenitor of the Cicer arietinum is in progress at various places. Molecular characterization of genetic resources is the need of the present day, therefore projects have been initiated at the IIPR, Kanpur, IARI, New Delhi, and at several other locations.
A simple highly reproducible, efficient and genotype-neutral regeneration system has been established on the MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/litre BAP + 0.125 m/litre IBA for in-vitro selection of cell lines against NaCI. Proliferation of shoots was obtained from tolerant calli isolated at 1.0% NaC1 stress in K 850. Tolerant calli-cell lines were selected on inhibitory dose (1.0%) of NaC1, and regeneration from such lines was obtained. This is the first work on regeneration from selected tolerant calli against NaC1. Short-duration varieties suitable for late planting (1st fortnight of December) have been a boon for rice-chickpea sequential cropping in the north India. Chickpea KPG 59 in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, north Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh, and Pant G 114 in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam have been found promising in late planting. Seed inoculation with phosphate-solubilizing microorganism Bacillus megatarian improved effieicncy of applied phosphorus. The increase in chickpea yield due to inoculation was equivalent to that obtained with 20 kg P2O5/ha. Chickpea and linseed in 6:2 resulted in total productivity of 2,285 kg/ha in the Central Uttar Pradesh. This system reduced incidence of gram pod-borer. Gram being a dwarf stature of crop suffers severl;y infestation of weeds. One hand weeding or interculture with hand hoe or wheel hoe after 25-30 days and second if needed after 60 days of sowing may take care of weeds. Basalin 1 kg ai/ha in 800-1000 litres of water as pre-planting spray may be used as effective herbicide. It should be well incorporated in soil before sowing. 2.5 kg tribunil in 800-1000 litres of water per hectare may also be used as a pre emergence spray. Hand weeding or interculture with the help of hoe is always better than herbicides because interculture operations improve aeration in the soil. Six breeding lines viz. 92-71, H 94-8, PS 1, GL 91059, GL 93018 and GL 94059 were identified as moderately resistant to wilt. Among biopesticides, Ha-NPV, Halt, Dipel DF and Bt have been quite effective in controlling pod borer. These products were at a par with Endosulfan. Intercropping with linseed, coriander, mustard and barley also minimized the incidence of gram pod-borer. A new cyst nematode, Heterodera swarupi has been reported for the first time on chickpea from Rajasthan. Intercropping chickpea with mustard was effective in suppressing nematodes. A chickpea germplasm accession IPC 96-67 has been found tolerant to Meloidogyne javanica, Pratylenchus thornei and Rotylenchus reniformis. The pod-borer, Helicoverpa armigera is the most serious insect pest responsible for considerable crop loss. Aschochyta blight caused by Aschochyta rabiet and wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f sp ciceri are the major diseases. Use of resistant varieties, destruction of crop residues, crop rotation and intercropping are some of the tactics for the management of diseases. IPM for chickpea includes timely sowing before mid-October or growing early-maturing cultivars that complete podding by first week of March in the northern region and escape the peak activity period of Helicoverpa armigera. Use of Helicoverpa-tolerant varieties like JG 315 and JG 74 for the central zone and ICCV 7 for southern zone; intercropping with barley, wheat, mustard and linseed and application of nuclear polyhidrosis virus (Ha-NPV) @ 250-500 larval equivalent/ha. For better results, spray applications in evening have been recommended. Use of relatively safe pesticides or neem seed kernel extracts (NKSE) when ETL of 1 larva/5 plants at pod initiation stage has reached is recommended. Sex pheromone traps can be used in determining peak activity of the pest and the catch of 5-6 moths/trap suggests initiation of control actions. Intercropping chickpea with linseed and mustard in the northern zone and coriander in southern zone has been recommended to encourage natural enemies. Similarly, providing perches in chickpea field encourages activity of predatory birds like blue jay and myna that have strong appetite for pod-borer larvae. Application of Ha-NPV @ 250 LE/ha on appearance of eggs/first instar larvae of Helicoverpa is very effective in reducing pod-borer population. Three such sprays at weekly interval have been found sufficient. Research showed that it is important to conserve natural enemies like Compoletis, Chrysoperia , lady bird beetles, reduvids, and spiders. These can be conserved by avoiding unnecessary pedesticidal applications. The ETL for Helocoverpa on chickpea is 2 larvae/m˛ in southern zone, 1 larva/10 plant at flowering stage in north eastern plains and peninsular zones and 1 larvae/5 plants in north-west plains and central zones. Late Planting Variety of Gram ‘Pusa 372’ Developed by IARI: The scientists of IARI, New Delhi have developed a late planting variety of gram `Pusa 372’, which gives a yield of 2,171 kg in north-west plains, 1,587 kg in north-east plains and 1,441 kg per hectare in central zone. The Indian scientists working in various universities and institutes have developed Ascochyta blight tolerant varieties of gram like Gaurav, C-235, GNG 146 and BG 261 and wilttolerant varieties of gram like BG 244, Avrodhi and Phule G-5. |
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