India Develops Hybrid Pigeonpea

NEW DELHI - Mar 23/07 - SNS -- Plant breeders at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) have developed a hybrid pigeonpea (red gram).

According to Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, the new hybrid pigeonpea will serve as the platform for the tremendous growth of pulse production in India and other developing countries in Asia and Africa. "This is a global first and we are proud to catalyze and trigger this historic change," Dr Dar said.

Prof MS Swaminathan, chairman of the Indian National Commission on Farmers, termed the breakthrough as one of the most notable achievements in agricultural research and said that the development of hybrid pigeonpea strains capable of yielding 3 to 4 tons per hectare is a major breakthrough.

He added, "These hybrids are capable of launching a pulses revolution just in the same way as the semi-dwarf varieties triggered the wheat and rice revolution in the 1960s."

Based on a cytoplasmic male-sterility (CMS) system, the hybrid is expected to dramatically increase pigeonpea or red gram yields.

Male-sterile plants are those that do not have functional male sex organs. Hybrid production requires a female plant in which no viable pollen grains are borne. The expensive and labor-intensive method is to remove the male organs (anthers) from the plants.

The other simple way to establish a female line for hybrid seed production is to identify or create a line that is unable to produce viable pollen. This male-sterile line is therefore unable to self-pollinate, and seed formation is dependent upon pollen from the other male fertile line.

ICRISAT partnered with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for developing this technology. ICRISAT is now working with the private and public sector seed companies to commercialize the crop so that the seeds will start reaching the farmers in the next couple of years. Agricultural scientists from the Philippines, Myanmar and China have also recognized the ICRISAT's hybrid technology, and are working on developing hybrids in their countries.