Pigeon pea improvement

• Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests, Fiji
• Department of Agriculture, Thailand
• Agency for Agricultural Research and Development, Indonesia

Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) is a short-lived crop legume grown throughout much of the tropics and subtropics. India products the major crop, but many other countries in Asia. Africa and the Caribbean rely on its seed for food. In 1972, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) designated it one of five charter crops, in recognition of its international importance. It not only tolerates but performs well in marginal semi-arid environments with periodic moisture stress and relatively infertile soils; it is also extremely adaptable and can produce high seed yields under improved management. Plant improvement is required, however, to exploit these advantages.
This project seeks to develop cultivars and appropriate production systems for pigeon pea, with some emphasis on early-flowering types. It will involve integrated research into plant introduction, genetics and breeding, aspects of crop and plant physiology and agronomy.
Research to provide a better understanding of the scientific basis of the components of yield, its further improvement and its extrapolation to other environments, in developing countries and elsewhere, will begin with investigations of elite breeding lines. The scientists will study growth and development, yield accumulation and the importance of various yield components in a range of agronomic and physical environments. They will also conduct extensive regional evaluation to determine the effects of environment on genotypic performance. This should make it possible to identify the primary factors influencing yield, to modify the present agronomy and genotypes as necessary for a range of production environments and to identify and release genotypes with superior performance and adaptation. Additional work on genotypes identified as having some cold tolerance will seek to confirm this finding, develop and test specific genotypes and commence studies of inheritance of the character.
Quantitative genetic studies will investigate the variation in agronomic characters in a new production system for early-flowering pigeon pea. Associated research onto selection and breeding procedures will evaluate the effectiveness of selection strategies for various characters and initiate population improvement. Specific studies of inheritance will cover important characters such as flowering response, male sterility and floral biology. The team hopes to develop and evaluate breeding lines for international distribution.
Scientists involved in the project will maintain close liaison with others working on pigeon peas examples of associated programs include research on: physiology of characteristics in the crop; the potential of physiology of flowering; and drought tolerance. Collaborative research will be initiated overseas to test the production systems and germplasm generated in the project, with initial emphasis on India, Fiji, Indonesia and Thailand.