Botanical Description of Pigeonpea [Cajanus Cajan (L.) Millsp.]

Abstract

Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh] is an important legume crop of the papilionaceae family. It is an often cross-pollinated crop, and breeding principles of both self and cross-pollinated crops are highly effective in its genetic enhancement. Pigeonpea is a hard woody shrub, extensively adaptable to a range of soil types, temperature, and rainfall. It has a deep taproot system extending up to two meters and can grow to a height of four meters. Pigeonpea roots form a symbiotic association with Brady rhizobium spp. and perform biological nitrogen fixation. The branching pattern of stem may vary from bush type to compact upright type and is of determinate, semi-determinate, and non-determinate type based on the flowering pattern. The primary leaves are simple, opposite, and caduceus, while the latter ones are pinnately trifoliate with lanceolate to elliptical leaflets. Pigeonpea flowers are zygomorphic, borne on terminal or auxiliary racemes and are normally yellow in color with some variations. It has ten stamens in diadelphous condition with light or dark yellow anthers. The ovary is superior with a long style attached to a thickened, incurved, and swollen stigma. Pigeonpea is an often cross-pollinated crop with an average of 20% cross-pollination. The fruit of pigeonpea is called pod, which is of various colors, with and without deep constrictions. Seeds (with 20-22% proteins and amino acids) can be round or lens shaped, in shades of white and brown color with yellow color cotyledon. Pigeonpea is a widely consumed multi-utility pulse crop, thus the knowledge about the crop botany is vital for modifying it according to future challenges and goals.

Revisiting the Nutritional, Chemical and Biological Potential of Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.

“…India is the prime producer, corresponding to approximately 90% of the total global production. It has also been found since ancient times in Africa, Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and Egypt and has been grown at a wide range of altitudes (up to 3000 m) [ 8 ]. C. cajan is from the Genus Cajanus , Family Fabaceae , Order Rosidae , Class Magnoliopsida , and Kingdom Plantae [ 7 ].…”

“…The flowers are usually, yellow to orange in color, present a long peduncle of 1–8 cm long and terminal or axillary racemes (4–12 cm). Calyx: gamosepalous with 5 lobes, Corolla: zygomorphic and bright yellow, Androecium: 10 stamens (4 with short filaments and 6 with long filaments), Gynoecium: ovary (superior, pubescent, 2–9 ovules and monocarpellary), style (long, filiform and glabrous), stigma (incurved & thickened), Seeds: spherical or lens shaped [ 8 ].…”

“…It is a native genus from ancient Egypt, Africa, Asia and America, and now it has been widely distributed across the tropical and subtropical regions [ 7 ]. Globally, C. cajan has been recognized by various names, like Pigeon pea (Australia); red gram, tur, arhar, dal (India); mu dou (China); guando (Brazil) [ 8 ], and gunga pea, congo pea and non-eye pea in some other parts of the world [ 9 ]. Asia is the main producer of pigeon pea, and India alone contributes approximately to 77% of the total area and 90% of the total production around the world [ 10 , 11 ].…”

Registration of indeterminate and photoperiod‐insensitive IIPG‐7 and IIPG‐11 pigeonpea germplasm

“…Pigeonpea may have self‐ or cross‐pollination (Sameer et al., 2017). The ranges of cross‐pollination vary from 3% to 40%, and it is carried out mostly by the bees Apis spp.…”

Differential transcript expression profiles of susceptible and resistant pigeonpea cultivars at an early time point during Fusarium udum infection

“…It is rich in vegetable protein (20%–22%), and its global productivity is nearly 5.012 million tonnes ( FAO 2020 ). Pigeonpea is mostly grown as a field crop and as a backyard crop in more than 80 countries all over the world ( Sameer Kumar et al, 2017 ). It is cultivated on 5.62 million hectares of land across the world, and India contributes 64% (2.85 million tons) of global production ( Saxena et al, 2017 ).…”