about chickpea origin wild realtives and breeding

1. Kingdom Plantae
Sub- kingdom Tracheobionta
Order Fabales
Family Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
Subfamily Faboideae (Papilionaceae)
Tribe Cicereae
Genus Cicer
2n = 16
Chickpea is one of the important food
legumes cultivated in several countries. It
originated in the Middle East (area between
south-eastern Turkey and adjoining Syria for
the fact that three closely related wild annual
species of chickpea, C. bijugum, C.
echinospermum and C. reticulatum, are
found there. It later spread to European
countries in the west to Myanmar in the east.
1. Central & 2, 2A, 2B South America 3.Mediterranean
4. Asia Minor 5. Abyssinia , 6. Central Asia,
7.Hindustan 8. China
A center of origin is a geographical area where a
group of organisms, either domesticated or wild,
first developed its distinctive properties.[1] They are
also considered centers of diversity. Centers of
origin were first identified in 1924 by NI Vavilov.

2. Taxonomically, chickpea belongs to the tribe Cicereae of the family Fabaceae. There are nine
annuals and 34 perennial species in the genus Cicer. The cultivated chickpea, Cicer arietinum,
is a short annual herb with several growth habits ranging from prostrate to erect. Except the
petals of the flower, all the plant parts are covered with glandular and non-glandular hairs.
These hairs secrete a characteristic acid mixture, The glandular hairs secrete a mixture of
acids containing malic, oxalic and citric acids. which defends the plant against sucking pests.
The stem bears primary, secondary and tertiary branches. The latter two branch types have
leaves and flowers on them. Though single leaf also exists, compound leaf with 5–7 pairs of
leaflets is a regular feature.
The typical papilionaceous flower, with one big standard, two wings and two keel petals (boat
shaped), has 9 + 1 diadelphous stamens and a stigma with 1–4 ovules. Anthers dehisce a day
before the flower opens leading to self-pollination. In four weeks after pollination, pod
matures with one to three seeds per pod. There is no dormancy in chickpea seed. Based on
the colour of chickpea seed, it is desi type (dark-coloured seed) or kabuli type (beige-coloured
seed).
S.B. Sajja S. Samineni P.M. Gaur (2017)
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
(ICRISAT), Patancheru, India

3. Flower: The flower can be described as regular, bisexual, with five fused hairy sepals in a
single whorl which form a calyx tube, five petals (pink, white, purple or blue in colour) in a
typical papilionaceous arrangement with a big standard, two wings and two keel petals
which form a boat shape, ten stamens in a diadelphous arrangement (9 stamens fused and
a free 10th stamen) with orange-coloured pollen grains, linear style with globose stigma,
sessile pubescent ovary containing 1–4 ovules.
Generally, flowering starts in the range of 24 days to 80 days after
sowing and continues till the depletion of moisture owing to the
indeterminate growth of chickpea.
When moisture levels go down significantly, plants which bear pods
and leaves start to senesce reaching maturity.
Chickpea is a highly self-pollinated crop. The anthers dehisce one
day before the flower opens ensuring self-pollination. Anthesis
continues throughout the day.

4. Inflorescence: The inflorescence is an axillary
raceme with generally a single papilionaceous flower
though two to three flowers were also reported to
occur rarely at the same node. The peduncle is 6–30
mm long, while the pedicel is 6–13 mm long. Both
the peduncle and pedicel look like a single part
because they are straight in line up to fertilization,
and then the pedicel bends down.
The presence of nodules on roots indicates
symbiotic relationship between chickpea and the
Rhizobium bacteria (Mesorhizobium ciceri) leading
to biological nitrogen fixation. The tap root system
is so robust that it reaches more than 3 m in soil
favouring the plant to survive in moisture stress
conditions

5. Seed: The shape of the seed generally resembles a ram’s (Aries) head, hence the name
‘arietinum’, while other shapes do exist such as globular or quasi-spheric with a
characteristic beak. The surface of the seed coat may be
smooth or tuberculate.
There are two types of cultivated chickpea based
on seed size and colour—desi and kabuli.
Desi type: The seeds are generally small
(around 0.2 g per seed); seed coat is thick with
varying colours such as cream, yellow, brown,
black and green. The stem and leaves may contain
anthocyanin pigmentation.
Kabuli type: The seeds are generally large
(around 0.3–0.5 g per seed) to extra large (more
than 0.5 g per seed); seed coat is thin and mainly cream or beige coloured, sometimes
white. The plants will not have anthocyanin pigmentation
Seed colour in desi types assumes different shades of brown, black and green depending
on the genotype, while the kabuli types have mainly beige-coloured seed. Cotyledons are
mainly in three colours: cream, green or orange. Seed size exhibits huge variation starting
from 0.08 g to nearly 0.8 g per seed. Generally, the kabuli types have larger seed size
compared to the desi types
Desi (left) and kabuli (right) seed types

6. Germination: Seeds of cultivated chickpea do not exhibit any dormancy period. Seeds
start to germinate within a week after sowing depending on the moisture level of the soil,
temperature (28–33°C) and sowing depth (two inches).
The major goals of chickpea breeding are to increase production either by
upgrading the genetic potential of cultivars or by eliminating the effect of diseases,
insects, drought and cold.
Selection techniques for pest resistance and agronomic characters have been
developed.
The F2-derived family, bulk-pedigree and two-cycle selection breeding methods
are in common use for varietal development.
Variation for seed size and colour in chickpea

7. Asia and Africa contribute 78% of world use production. India is a leader of
production and consumption of pulses as growing pulses is a cost-effective option
for developing countries. Among pulses, share of chickpea to the total pulse
production has increased up to 35.%, but yield of chickpea is comparatively low.
It is a rich source of protein (20%–23%), minerals, fiber, unsaturated fatty acid, and
β-carotene. It is considered as one of the most nutritious food for human
consumption. The crop has been domesticated in Fertile Crescent as part of
agricultural evolution and considered as the primary center of diversity. Secondary
centers of diversity emerged with the geographic spread across Mediterranean
Europe, the Indian subcontinent, and Northeast Africa, and more recently in Mexico
and Chile.
The genus Cicer is blessed with rich germplasm which includes 44 species (43 wild
relatives and 1 domesticated). These genetic resources are classified into three
gene pools, i.e., primary, secondary, and tertiary, based on their usefulness for
improving the cultigen. The primary gene pool consists of cultivated species and
landraces. The secondary gene pool consists of the progenitor species
C. reticulatum and C. echinospermum, the species that are crossable with
C. arietinum, but with reduced fertility of the resulting hybrids and progenies. The
tertiary gene pool consists of all the annual and perennial Cicer species that are not
crossable with cultivated species.

8. The success of any crop improvement program depends on the level of genetic
diversity and the availability of useful traits in the crop gene pool.
Productivity of cultivated chickpea is hampered by various abiotic and biotic
stresses and this offers limited genetic improvements in domesticated crop
varieties. Wild Cicer species harbor several important traits, which are not present
adequately in the cultigen, e.g., resistance to cold, drought, pod borer, and
ascochyta blight, and hence these species could be a wonderful resource for their
introgression into the cultigen to broaden its genetic base.
Marker-assisted selection also offers added advantages of introgression of multiple
traits or traits that are difficult to assess through phenotyping. A majority of the
chickpea cultivars released so far have been developed using selection and
intraspecific hybridization involving common parents, which has resulted into the
narrow genetic base of released cultivars.

9. BREEDING OBJECTIVES:
1. Breeding for increased seed yield with favorable partitioning
2 types – i) Desi – smaller seeds, local type ii) Kabuli- bigger seeds, channa
Yield components - No.of pods per plant
No.of branches per plant
No.of seeds per pod (normally2)
Grain weight
2. Breeding for increased biomass with tall, erect & compact cultivars.
3. Breeding for drought tolerance
Chickpea is often exposed to end-of-season drought in semiarid tropics. Terminal
drought coincides with the pod filling stage of the crop. Early maturing cultivars provide
means to escape from terminal drought.
Genetic mechanisms of drought resistance includes root traits, small leaf area, proline
accumulation in the cytosol and osmotic adjustment.
Ability to maximally utilize water during pod filling stage under receding moisture
conditions is needed for post-rainy season crop.
Drought resistant sources – ICC4958, 10448, C214, H208, G24, FLIP 87-59C
4. Breeding for heat tolerance - Heat tolerant sources – Annigeri, 850-3/27, H208
5. Breeding for cold and frost tolerance
Cold tolerance is extremely important for winter sowing in Mediterranean region.
Cold tolerant sources – ILC666, 668, 1071, 2487, 2505, 3081, 3287,
Cold tolerant lines ILC 8262, ILC 8617, FLIP 87-82C tolerate up to -100C and 60 days
in a year.
Frost tolerant source – C214

10. BREEDING OBJECTIVES (contd…):
6. Breeding for response to higher dosage of fertilizer and irrigation
7. Breeding for tolerance to salinity and alkalinity
Salinity adversely affect chickpea productivity in many parts of India, Pakistan, WANA
and Australia. Soil salinity affects germination resulting in poor plant stand.
Under saline conditions there is high anthocyanin pigmentation of foliage in desi type
and yellowing of foliage in kabuli type accompanied with reduction in biomass, seed size
and grain yield.
Salt tolerant lines – Karnal Chana 1 (India), ICGV 96836 (Australia)
8. Breeding for resistance to diseases like blight, Fusarium wilt, root rot, Botrytis grey
mold.
Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri) – Most devastating disease in
Asia, Africa and south America where chickpea is grown during dry and warm
season. Most of the resistant sources are desi type. High yielding and wilt
resistant cultivars – Pusa 212, Pusa 244, WR315, Avrodhi, ICCV-2 & ICCV-10.
Ascochyta blight (Ascochyta rabiei) AB resistant varieties in India are Pusa261,
PBG1, GNG469 and Gaurav in India. 39
Botrytis gray mold (Botrytis cineria) is important foliar disease in northern India.
IIPR has released moderately resistant variety Avarodhi (ICC14344).

11. BREEDING OBJECTIVES (contd…):
Root rot diseases: 3 types - Dry root rot, Phytophthora root rot, Collar rot
Multiple disease resistant sources:
Fusarium wilt, Dry root rot, Black root rot – ICC12337, 11269
Fusarium wilt, Ascochyta blight, Botrytis grey mold – ICC1069
Fusarium wilt, Dry root rot, Stunt – ICC10466
Fusarium wilt, Sclerotinia stem rot – ICC858, 959, 4918, 8933, 9001
8. Breeding for resistance to insects like pod borer, root knot nematode etc.
Pod borer (Helicoverpa armigera) is the most important pest globally. Perennial
wild species C. microphyllum and C. canariense are the best source of pod borer
resistance. ICC 506, 6663, 10619, 10667 & ICCV 7 showed low pod borer damage.
ICCL86111 – resistant to pod borer and fusarium wilt.
Insect resistant sources:
Pod borer – ICC506, 1381, 4856, 5264, 6663, 7510, 7559, 7966, 10667, 10761, 10870
Leaf miner – ILC 726, 1776, 2319, 2618, 3800, 5901, 7738
Bruchids – G109-1
Root knot nematode – P636, H208, PGM442, BG305, L550, BG405

12. Breeding Objectives (Contd…)
9. Breeding for ideotype – Erect plant type with shorter internodes is suitable. For
mechanical harvesting
Reduced internodal distance and increasing the no.of podded nodes may be
useful to improve harvest index in chickpea.
Doubled podded and multi-seeded pod characters useful under specific
conditions.
10. Breeding for adaptation to late sown situation in north India & early sown
situation in south India.
11. Breeding for increased nodulation with respect to size, number and weight of
nodules.
12. Breeding cultivars for high input conditions
13. Breeding cultivars with multiple stress resistance

13. BREEDING METHODS:
1. Germplasm utilization & introduction – Germplasm maintained at ICRISAT (Desi & kabuli,
12,000 accessions), ICARDA (Kabuli)
2. Pure line selection
3. Hybridization & selection: Pedigree, Bulk, SSD, Back cross
Crossing is difficult and time consuming like most of the legumes.
Introgression between desi & kabuli -
Kabuli - higher no. of primary branches, large seed size, erect habit, tall
stature, cold tolerance, resistance to blight. These characters are transferred into
desi type.
Desi - higher no. of secondary branches, more no. of pods per plant, more no. of
seeds per pod, drought tolerance, resistance to fusarium. These characters
transferred to kabuli type.
Selection of Kabuli type with Selection of Desi type with desirable characters from Desi type
desirable characters from Kabuli type
Pedigree method – for resistance breeding (disease, insect, nematode, Orobanche spp.)
Modified bulk method for stress situations (drought, cold, heat, iron deficiency)
Back cross method – for interspecific hybridization
Limited back cross (1 or 2) for Desi x Kabuli introgression and also for resistance breeding.
4. Mutation breeding – twin-podded type, short bushy mutant, giant pod mutant 41
5. . Biotechnological approaches y – Embryo rescue & ovule culture, Transgenics , Marker assisted
Breeding