Pigeonpea improvement through conventional breeding

Contributions made through conventional breeding have been of great significance in the development of pigeon varieties for diverse agro ecological regions in the country. The available genetic variability has been exploited to its full potential for enhancing trait based genetic improvement. However, the on farm productivity and production has remained low due to several constraints including the plant architecture, early maturity, disease and insect pest resistance. Hence, to breed cultivars having high agronomic performance with broad genetic base for specific regions, new sources of genetic variability need to be tapped. Wild species of Cajanus present a vast reservoir of useful genes for pigeonpea improvement. Heterosis breeding has enormous scope to break the yield barrier and enhancing potential but there is great need to identify heterotic parents to be used as MS lines and their respective restorers. However the major challenges are still being faced to answer genetic solutions for achieving yield potential through early maturity restructuring the plant type and resistance breeding to pave the way for sustainability in pigeon pea production.