Stabilizing yield and quality: early maturing chickpea for the prairies

Non-Peer ReviewedProgress in chickpea breeding has been constrained by lack of good sources of early maturity in the short-season temperate environment of western Canada. We hypothesized that the length of the chickpea life-cycle could be reduced through introgression of strategic genetic traits including short internode, double podding and early flowering. The result showed that both the double podding and early flowering traits had significant beneficial effects by reducing the duration of crop maturity in chickpea in the short-season temperate environment of western Canada. Pyramiding double podding, early flowering and other strategic genetic traits should lead to the development of extra short duration chickpea varieties more suited for cultivation in the Prairies and similar environments

Early maturity strategies in chickpea: pyramiding key genetic traits

Non-Peer ReviewedChickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a highly indeterminate species which continues to grow and produce pods through fall, especially in cooler and wetter seasons. This exposes the crop to frost damage resulting in reduced yield and quality. We hypothesized that earliness could be induced through some strategic traits including double podding, reduced internode length and early flowering. The objective of this study was, therefore, to determine the individual and combined effects of these traits on earliness in chickpea. Four single crosses were made: two with the early flowering parent, and one each with the double podding and short internode length parents. Segregating populations of F2–F4 generations were evaluated along with their parents in greenhouse and field trials. Significant genetic variability was observed for days to maturity of lower pods and percent pod maturity at four months after planting. In general, each trait had some effect on earliness, though the magnitude differed, and combining them into a single genotype may help to achieve the desired earliness in chickpea. The F2 population from the multiple cross (gene pyramiding) showed a wide range in maturity. Several had nearly complete maturity of pods at four months after planting. These were more determinate types as judged by smaller increases in height between flowering and maturity stages and uniform maturity of pods

Early flowering, short internode length, and double podding as components of early maturity in chickpea

Non-Peer ReviewedLate maturity, resulting from the indeterminate nature of the crop, is a critical production constraint in chickpea (Kumar and Abbo, 2001). In western Canada, the chickpea crop is often killed by fall frost while seeds/pods are yet filling, which reduces both the quantity and quality of economic yield (grain). It was hypothesized that incorporating early flowering, short internode length and double podding traits may shorten the overall duration of growth in chickpea. Early flowering would advance onset of reproduction, while the latter two traits hasten the rate of pod formation and then progress towards maturity. Hence, a study was initiated to determine the effect of these key traits on time (days) to maturity in chickpea

Impact of grasspea genotypes and sowing dates on seed &#946-ODAP concentration and agronomic traits.

Grasspea (Lathyrus sativus) is an important food legume crop in Ethiopia. However, its nutritional value ishindered by β-ODAP that causes lathyrism in humans. The extent of toxicity is influenced by genetic andagronomic factors.We conducted an experiment to determine the effect of varieties and sowing dates on the β-ODAP content of the seeds and other yield components. Two varieties, Bio-520 and landrace, were planted onJuly 24, August 7 and 21, and September 4 in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 cropping seasons. Grasspea variety andseason, significantly influenced β-ODAP content of the seeds.The highly significant variety x season interactionssuggests that varieties behave differently in different seasons for their β-ODAP content. The main effects andinteractions were highly significant for days-to-flowering and plant height. Although β-ODAP content of thevarieties varied with season, the improved genotype always contained less β-ODAP concentration.Thus, whilethe development of low-toxin grasspea lines is the primary goal, modifying agronomic practices is also importantto mitigate lathyrism.Key Words: Ethiopia, Lathyrus sativus, Lathyrism, neurotoxi

Genetic improvement of chickpea for western Canada

Non-Peer ReviewedThe chickpea crop has experienced a roller-coaster ride over the past decade in western Canada. Production rose rapidly in the late 1990’s, followed by dramatic declines in the past two years. Instability can be attributed to many factors including commodity prices, erratic weather patterns, Ascochyta blight and late maturity. This paper summarizes current research on genetic improvement of chickpea at the University of Saskatchewan, with particular emphasis on efforts to improve Ascochyta blight resistance and to develop varieties with earlier maturity. Under ‘average’ weather conditions, chickpea remains an excellent nitrogen-fixing crop for the Brown and Dark Brown soil zones

Chefe (ICCV 92318) - a new kabuli chickpea variety for Ethiopia

Chefe (ICCV 92318) is a new kabuli chickpea cultivar developed from a 3-way cross, i.e. (ICCV 2 × Surutato) × ICC 7344, at ICRISAT, Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India, and released in 2004 primarily for its attractive and large (35 g/100 seeds) seeds (compared to 26 g/100 seeds in Arerti), and high level of resistance to Fusarium wil

IMPACT OF GRASSPEA GENOTYPES AND SOWING DATES ON SEED \u3b2-ODAP CONCENTRATION AND AGRONOMIC TRAITS

Grasspea ( Lathyrus sativus ) is an important food legume crop in Ethiopia. However, its nutritional value is hindered by \u3b2-ODAP that causes lathyrism in humans. The extent of toxicity is influenced by genetic and agronomic factors.We conducted an experiment to determine the effect of varieties and sowing dates on the \u3b2- ODAP content of the seeds and other yield components.Two varieties, Bio-520 and landrace, were planted on July 24, August 7 and 21, and September 4 in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 cropping seasons. Grasspea variety and season, significantly influenced \u3b2-ODAP content of the seeds.The highly significant variety x season interactions suggests that varieties behave differently in different seasons for their \u3b2-ODAP content. The main effects and interactions were highly significant for days-to-flowering and plant height. Although \u3b2-ODAP content of the varieties varied with season, the improved genotype always contained less \u3b2-ODAP concentration.Thus, while the development of low-toxin grasspea lines is the primary goal, modifying agronomic practices is also important to mitigate lathyrism.Le pois carr\ue9 ( Lathyrus sativus ) est une importante l\ue9gumineuse pour l\u2019alimentation humaine en Ethiopie. Cependant, sa valeur nutritionnelle est handicap\ue9e par le \u3b2-ODAP qui cause le lathyrisme chez les humains. Le degr\ue9 de toxicit\ue9 est influenc\ue9 par des facteurs g\ue9n\ue9tiques et agronomiques. Un essai \ue9tait conduit pour d\ue9terminer l\u2019effet de vari\ue9t\ue9s et de dates de plantation sur la teneur en \u3b2-ODAP dans les graines et autres composantes du rendement. Deux vari\ue9t\ue9s notamment la Bio-520 et le landrace, \ue9taient plant\ue9es pendant les saisons culturales 2001-02 et 2002-03 en Juillet 24, le 7 et le 21 Ao\ufbt ainsi que le 4 Septembre. Les vari\ue9t\ue9s du pois carr\ue9 et la saison ont significativement influenc\ue9 la teneur du \u3b2-ODAP dans les graines. Les interactions hautement significatives entre vari\ue9t\ue9 x saison sugg\ue8rent que les vari\ue9t\ue9s se comportent diff\ue9remment pendant des saisons diff\ue9rentes en termes de la teneur en \u3b2-ODAP. Les effets principaux et interactions \ue9taient hautement significatifs \ue0 la floraison et en fonction de la hauteur des plants. Bien que la teneur en \u3b2-ODAP variait avec la saison, les g\ue9notypes am\ue9lior\ue9s contenaient une basse concentration en \u3b2-ODAP. Ainsi, pendant que le d\ue9veloppement du pois carr\ue9 est un objectif prioritaire, la modification des pratiques agronomiques est aussi importante pour la mitigation du lathyrisme

The GCP molecular marker toolkit, an instrument for use in breeding food security crops

Crop genetic resources carry variation useful for overcoming the challenges of modern agriculture. Molecular markers can facilitate the selection of agronomically important traits. The pervasiveness of genomics research has led to an overwhelming number of publications and databases, which are, nevertheless, scattered and hence often difficult for plant breeders to access, particularly those in developing countries. This situation separates them from developed countries, which have better endowed programs for developing varieties. To close this growing knowledge gap, we conducted an intensive literature review and consulted with more than 150 crop experts on the use of molecular markers in the breeding program of 19 food security crops. The result was a list of effectively used and highly reproducible sequence tagged site (STS), simple sequence repeat (SSR), single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), and sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) markers. However, only 12 food crops had molecular markers suitable for improvement. That is, marker-assisted selection is not yet used for Musa spp., coconut, lentils, millets, pigeonpea, sweet potato, and yam. For the other 12 crops, 214 molecular markers were found to be effectively used in association with 74 different traits. Results were compiled as the GCP Molecular Marker Toolkit, a free online tool that aims to promote the adoption of molecular approaches in breeding activities

Integrated physical, genetic and genome map of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Physical map of chickpea was developed for the reference chickpea genotype (ICC 4958) using bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries targeting 71,094 clones (~12× coverage). High information content fingerprinting (HICF) of these clones gave high-quality fingerprinting data for 67,483 clones, and 1,174 contigs comprising 46,112 clones and 3,256 singletons were defined. In brief, 574 Mb genome size was assembled in 1,174 contigs with an average of 0.49 Mb per contig and 3,256 singletons represent 407 Mb genome. The physical map was linked with two genetic maps with the help of 245 BAC-end sequence (BES)-derived simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. This allowed locating some of the BACs in the vicinity of some important quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for drought tolerance and reistance to Fusarium wilt and Ascochyta blight. In addition, fingerprinted contig (FPC) assembly was also integrated with the draft genome sequence of chickpea. As a result, ~965 BACs including 163 minimum tilling path (MTP) clones could be mapped on eight pseudo-molecules of chickpea forming 491 hypothetical contigs representing 54,013,992 bp (~54 Mb) of the draft genome. Comprehensive analysis of markers in abiotic and biotic stress tolerance QTL regions led to identification of 654, 306 and 23 genes in drought tolerance “QTL-hotspot” region, Ascochyta blight resistance QTL region and Fusarium wilt resistance QTL region, respectively. Integrated physical, genetic and genome map should provide a foundation for cloning and isolation of QTLs/genes for molecular dissection of traits as well as markers for molecular breeding for chickpea improvement

Fertilizing Nature: A Tragedy of Excess in the Commons

Why has nitrogen fertilizer use declined in some countries while increasing in others, despite significant environmental harm? Proper crop management strategies offer environmental and economic benefits without sacrificing yields