Heterosis and Combining Ability Studies in Short Duration Hybrids of Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.)

Pulses are major sources of proteins among the vegetarians in India, and complement the staple cereals in the diets with proteins, essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals. They contain 22-24% protein, which is almost twice the protein in wheat and thrice that of rice. Though India is the world’s largest producer of pulses, it imports a large amount of pulses to meet the growing domestic needs as it is the largest consumer too. It has been estimated that India’s population would reach 1.68 billion by 2030 from the present level of 1.21 billion. Accordingly, the projected pulse requirement for the year 2030 is 32 million tonnes with an anticipated required growth rate of 4.2% (IIPR Vision 2030)..

Genetic Variability for Yield, Physiological and Quality Traits in Novel Super-Early Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.)

Super-early pigeonpea are novel genotypes that are reported to be photoperiod insensitive making it possible to grow it in non-traditional regions. Estimation of genetic parameters would be useful in developing appropriate selection and breeding strategies. A study was conducted to evaluate 37 super-early pigeonpea genotypes to access the magnitude of variability and to study heritable component of variation present in the yield, physiological and quality traits. The results revealed that traits leaf area duration between 60 DAS & maturity followed by leaf area & leaf area index at maturity, net assimilation between 60 DAS & maturity, leaf area index & leaf area at 60 DAS, leaf area duration between 60 DAS & maturity and plant height had high had higher PCV and GCV values. In general, phenotypic coefficients of variation (PCV) estimates were higher than genotypic coefficients of variation (GCV) estimates for all the characters under study, but the difference was relatively small indicating that these characters were less influenced by the environment and selection to improve those traits might be effective. High heritability combined with high genetic advance as a percent of mean was noted for all the traits except protein content conveying the governance of additive gene on trait expression. Anticipating these traits as selection index reaps competent improvement in yield, physiological and quality traits in early maturing pigeonpea

Genetic Divergence for Yield, Physiological and Quality Traits in Super-Early Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan. (l.) Millsp.)

The present investigation aimed to study genetic divergence and clustering pattern of 37super-early pigeon pea genotypes. Analysis of variance and hierarchical cluster analysis of tocher’s method revealed significant differences among the genotypes for all the traits under study. Based on genetic distance (D2 value), the 37 genotypes were grouped into 9 distinctive clusters, of which cluster I and II formed the largest clusters with 10 genotypes in each. Among all the characters understudy, leaf area index(LAI) at 60 DAS contributed more to the divergence followed by leaf area (17.02) and leaf area index (12.71) at maturity. Based on the average inter-cluster distance, the cluster III and IX (66.93) tailed by cluster III and VIII (64.86) and cluster VI and VIII (64.06) showed higher inter-cluster distance depicting the wider divergence. Trait-wise selection of diverse parents from the above clusters aids in exploitation of heterosis in superearly pigeon pea

Studies on CGMS Based Short Duration Hybrids of Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] in Terms of Combining Ability

To estimate combining ability, twenty seven hybrids were made from 12 parents in a line × tester mating design during Kharif 2015-16 and tested in a Randomized block design with three replications during Kharif 2016-17. Among these parents ICPL 161 and ICPL 149 had desirable GCA effect for grain yield per plant and its contributing characters. Ten crosses exhibited significant positive SCA effect for grain yield. Out of them most promising crosses in terms of grain yield were ICPA 2039 × ICPL 161, ICPA 2156 × ICPL 86022 and ICPA 2039 × ICPL 90048. On the basis of per se performance and combining ability, the parents ICPA 2039, ICPL 88039, ICPL 161 and ICPL 149 can be used for future hybridization programmes

Study of CGMS based Short Duration Hybrids of Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] In Terms of Heterosis

Twenty seven pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] hybrids were developed by hand pollination using three CMS lines (A lines) and nine testers (R lines). These hybrids along with their parents and two standard checks (VL Arhar1 and ICPL 161) were evaluated in a randomized block design with three replications during kharif 2016-17 for the heterosis studies. Results indicated that the crosses ICPA 2039 x ICPL161 and ICPA 2039 x ICPL 90048 had manifested significant heterobeltiosis and standard heterosis over two checks viz., VL Arhar1 and ICPL 161 for grain yield per plant and yield contributing characters. The stability of these promising crosses can be studied across the different environments and feasibility for their commercial utilisation could be tested in further generations

Performance of Parents and Hybrids of Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.) in terms of Yield and Yield Contributing Characters

Twelve parents were used in the crossing programme to produce 27 hybrids in L×T fashion during kharif 2015-16. In the field conditions, parents and hybrids were planted in Randomized Block Design of three replications and evaluated for the performance in terms of yield and yield contributing characters during kharif 2016-17. Observations were recorded on ten characters viz., plant height, days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, number of primary branches per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, 100 seed weight, grain yield per plant and harvest index. It was observed that increase in number of pods per plant directly contributed to increased yield. Among the twenty seven hybrids, ICPA 2039 × ICPL 161, ICPA 2039 × ICPL 90048 and ICPA 2039 × ICPL149 had high grain yield

The notochord breaks bilateral symmetry by controlling cell shapes in the Zebrafish laterality organ

Kupffer's vesicle (KV) is the zebrafish organ of laterality, patterning the embryo along its left-right (LR) axis. Regional differences in cell shape within the lumen-lining KV epithelium are essential for its LR patterning function. However, the processes by which KV cells acquire their characteristic shapes are largely unknown. Here, we show that the notochord induces regional differences in cell shape within KV by triggering extracellular matrix (ECM) accumulation adjacent to anterior-dorsal (AD) regions of KV. This localized ECM deposition restricts apical expansion of lumen-lining epithelial cells in AD regions of KV during lumen growth. Our study provides mechanistic insight into the processes by which KV translates global embryonic patterning into regional cell shape differences required for its LR symmetry-breaking function

Super early pigeonpea varities and hybrids: New intervener for maximized, time specific dry land production

A neglected crop of yester-years, pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan[L.] Millspaugh) is a multi-purpose, versatile food legume, which has seen greater evolution in its plant architecture, duration and yield pattern as time passed. In rainfed ecologies across the globe, pigeonpea fits in as a remunerative option to the farmers. Frequent droughts in recent past have resulted in losses to crops such as cereals, millets and oil seeds, but pigeonpea in the same cropping niche provided at least minimum assurance to small and marginal farmers, owing to its drought tolerance and ability to withstand harsh environments. The enormous variability and plasticity of the crop provided an opportunity to breeders to develop super early maturity group with the life span of less than 100 days. The existing maturity duration -- early (less than 140 days) and medium (180 to 200 days) -- imposes restrictions on adaptation to drought. The super early genotypes provide the foundation for future pigeonpea breeding because of their earliness, photo insensitive nature, impressive per day productivity, adaptability across the varying range of altitudes, stress escape mechanism and niche to fit well in various agroecologist and cropping systems. Rapid generation turnover is a boon to breeders for faster introgression of traits of interest, to carry out studies on genetics of biotic and abiotic stress by developing mapping population within very short duration. In the above context, “super early varieties and hybrids, is a wonderful breeding material to secure future sustainable dry land pigeonpea production”