The performance of newly developed extra-short-duration pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) genotypes and traditional short-duration pigeonpea cultivars was compared in rotation with wheat in onfarm trials conducted in 1996±97 and 1997±98 in Sonepat (288 N) district in Haryana, and in 1996±97 at Ludhiana (308 N) district in Punjab, India. At both locations, a wheat crop (Triticum aestivum cv. HD 2329) followed pigeonpea. At Sonepat, an indeterminate extra-short-duration genotype ICPL 88039 matured up to three weeks earlier, yet gave 12% higher yield (1.57 t ha 71 ) and showed less susceptibility to borer damage than did the short-duration cv.Manak. At Ludhiana, extra-short-duration pigeonpea genotypes, ICPL 88039, ICPL 85010 and AL 201 gave similar grain yields to the short-duration T 21 in spite of maturing three to four weeks earlier. Yields of wheat crops following extra-short-duration genotypes were up to 0.75 t ha 71 greater at Sonepat and up to 1.0 t ha 71 greater at Ludhiana. The results of the study provide empirical evidence that extra-short-duration pigeonpea genotypes could contribute to higher productivity of pigeonpea±wheat rotation systems. Most of the farmers who grew on-farm trials in Sonepat preferred extra-short-duration to short-duration pigeonpea types for their early maturity, bold seed size, and the greater yield of the following wheat crop.introdution Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) is one of the most important wet-season grain legume crops in South Asia. The average yield of the crop is around 0.75 t ha 71 and it occupies the ®eld for 6 to 9 months. Crop improvement efforts in pigeonpea, as for other legumes (Siemonssma and Anwari, 1988;Lawn, 1989), have been directed both to improve yield of traditional types (Sharma et al., 1981;Sheldrake and Narayanan, 1979;Willey et al., 1981) and to develop new plant types that ®t well into the new production systems (Wallis et al., 1981;Laxman Singh et al., 1990). The emphasis has been on traditional types because most of the area under the crop is planted to them. Traditional cultivars and landraces are photoperiodsensitive and more resilient to adverse conditions (Sharma et al., 1981). These

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