Zero hunger and good health could be realized by 2030 through effective conservation, characterization and utilization of germplasm resources1. So far, few chickpea (Cicerarietinum) germplasm accessions have been characterized at the genome sequence level2. Here we present a detailed map of variation in 3,171 cultivated and 195 wild accessions to provide publicly available resources for chickpea genomics research and breeding. We constructed a chickpea pan-genome to describe genomic diversity across cultivated chickpea and its wild progenitor accessions. A divergence tree using genes present in around 80% of individuals in one species allowed us to estimate the divergence of Cicer over the last 21 million years. Our analysis found chromosomal segments and genes that show signatures of selection during domestication, migration and improvement. The chromosomal locations of deleterious mutations responsible for limited genetic diversity and decreased fitness were identified in elite germplasm. We identified superior haplotypes for improvement-related traits in landraces that can be introgressed into elite breeding lines through haplotype-based breeding, and found targets for purging deleterious alleles through genomics-assisted breeding and/or gene editing. Finally, we propose three crop breeding strategies based on genomic prediction to enhance crop productivity for 16 traits while avoiding the erosion of genetic diversity through optimal contribution selection (OCS)-based pre-breeding. The predicted performance for 100-seed weight, an important yield-related trait, increased by up to 23% and 12% with OCS- and haplotype-based genomic approaches, respectively.

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Genetic biofortification is a cost-effective strategy to address iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) deficiencies prevalent worldwide. Being a rich and cheap protein source, chickpea, a food legume grown and consumed across the globe, is a good target for biofortification. Nineteen popular commercial cultivars of India were analysed for Fe and Zn content at four locations representing different agro-climatic zones to study the genotypic and genotype 9 environment interactions on Fe and Zn. Distribution of phytic acid (PA), an important anti-nutrient that chelates and reduces the mineral bioavailability, was also analysed. Influence of other agronomic traits like days to flowering, plant

A field experiment was conducted on medium black calcareous clayey soil at Pulses Research Station, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh during three seasons of 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2014-15 to study the efficacy of pre-and post-emergence herbicides in Kharif blackgram (cv. GU-1). The quizalofopethyl 40 g/ha as post-emergence (PoE) at 20 days after seeding (DAS) + hand weeding (HW) at 40 days after seeding (DAS) and pendimethalin 900 g/ha as pre-emergence (PE) + hand weeding (HW) at 40 DAS were found equally effective to the weed-free check in controlling weeds and improving growth and yield attributes and ultimately seed yield (1.14 and 1.13 t/ha) and straw yield (1.26 and 1.33 t/ha) of blackgram. These treatments also recorded higher weed control efficiency (65.3-63.1%), herbicide efficiency index (81.1-82.3%), lower weed index (9.1-9.7%) and minimum weed dry biomass (273.9-291.7 kg/ha) and higher net returns (` 21,230 and ` 21,162 /ha). Integrated weed management practices with herbicides as a component were found effective and economical under south Saurashtra agro-climatic conditions of Gujarat.

Combining ability analysis for yield and yield components of mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] was attempted using an 8 x 8 diallel mating system both in F1 and F2 generations. Both gca and sca mean squares were significant for all the eleven characters in F1 and F2 generations, former being more pronounced for clusters per plant, pods per cluster, pods per plant, pod length, seeds per pod, 100-seed weight and seed yield per plant in F1 and for all the characters except days to maturity, seeds per pod and 100-seed weight in F2. The parent K 851 was a good general combiner for seed yield per plant, days to maturity, plant height, primary branches per plant, clusters per plant, pods per plant and seeds per pod in both generations, while Pant-M 4 was good general combiner for seed yield per plant, plant height, pods per cluster and pods per plant over generations. Parents RMG 62 and Asha were the best combiners for early flowering. GM 4 had good general combining ability for seed yield in F1, but for pod length and 100-seed weight in F1 and F2. The crosses showing high sca effects for seed yield also had significant and positive effects for at least two important yield components.