Pigeonpea: From an Orphan to a Leader in Food Legumes

Abstract

More than six billion people of this planet are dependent on nurturing and harnessing agro-ecological biodiversity for food and nutritional security. Human life and civilizations have been influenced not only by cultivated taxa, but also by wild germplasm. The origin and fast-track evolution of agricultural crops aided by domestication have attracted considerable attention from evolutionary biologists, plant explorers, archaeobotanists, geneticists, and plant breeders worldwide in crops such as rice, wheat, and maize. However, legumes (barring soybean) have remained relatively neglected by the researchers. Globally, pigeonpea is grown on an area of 4.64 million hectares (Mha) annually with production of 3.43 million tonnes, yielding 740 kg ha À1 (FAO 2008). In the past three decades India has contributed to more than 70% of global area and production of pigeonpea. India (cultivating 3.53 Mha), Myanmar (570,000 ha), China (150,000 ha), and Nepal (20,988 ha) are the most important Asian countries for pigeonpea production (Table 16.1). In Africa, Kenya (190,000 ha), Malawi (123,000 ha), Uganda (87,000 ha), and Tanzania (67,500 ha) are the leaders. Pigeonpea is a versatile food legume. A dried decorticated split pea (dhal) is consumed as protein source in many Asian and African countries. Green seeds and pods are also consumed as a vegetable in parts of India and Africa. The seed husk and pod wall form quality animal feed. The dried stems of pigeonpea are a good source of fuel wood (the calorific value is about half that of coal (Panikkar 1950)), thatch, and material for basket making. Pigeonpea helps in release of soilbound phosphorus (Ae et al. 1990). Like other legumes, pigeonpea fixes about 40 kg ha À1 nitrogen per season (Kumar Rao et al. 1983). There are also reports of up to 280 kg ha À1 of nitrogen fixation (Red de Grupos de Agricultura de Cobertura 2002). Pigeonpea has also been used as a green manure crop, a cover crop, and food for silkworms (Red de Grupos de Agricultura de Cobertura 2002) and as a host for the lac insect (Kerria lacca). The deep root system of pigeonpea breaks the soil hard-pan and helps in nutrient recycling from the deeper layers of soil. Long-and medium-duration pigeonpea varieties have also been successfully used for mountain slope stabilization in southern China and Northern India.

The Role of Genetic Resources in Breeding for Climate Change: The Case of Public Breeding Programmes in Eighteen Developing Countries

“…Among those strategies that focus on the production system itself, climate change adaptation strategies are commonly divided in two pathways: agronomic management (which tends to be short term) and genetic improvement (longer term) [ 9 , 13 ]. Agronomic management strategies encompass changing cultivation practices (timing or location of cropping activities, techniques of land preparation, weed/pest/disease management [ 18 ]) and the adoption of new varieties or shifting to alternative crops or crop combinations [ 9 , 13 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Genetic improvement, on the contrary, involves the development and adoption of new, better adapted varieties of the crop of interest.…”

Understanding the Role of the WRKY Gene Family under Stress Conditions in Pigeonpea (Cajanus Cajan L.)

“…Other members of the tribe Phaseoleae include common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris ), soybean ( Glycine max ), cowpea ( Vigna ungiculata ), and mung bean ( Vigna radiata ) [1,2]. The term pigeonpea was originated in Barbados, where Cajanus seeds were used as pigeon-feed [3]. As per the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), 180,193.86 metric ton of pulses were exported to different countries of the world by India, worth 228.32 million US$ for the year 2017–18 [1,4].…”

New Approaches for Crop Genetic Adaptation to the Abiotic Stresses Predicted with Climate Change

“…Many complementary strategies in conservation agriculture, weed control and chemical fallowing, innovative irrigation with the use of raised seed beds and of sub-surface drip systems, tie-bunding across cultivation ridges and inter-crop relay planting for more intensive land use, are some of the options that could provide tailored whole farm management specific to local environments [10]. Switching to more stress tolerant crops may be an option for particular crop regions, for example pearl millet is more drought tolerant than sorghum [12], triticale and rye are more drought tolerant than wheat with different respective strategies for maintaining photosynthesis, or for recovering from drought [13], and short season hybrid pigeonpea is preferred over maize in parts of east Africa [14]. A complementary option is to seek genetic variation for tolerance of abiotic stresses in both the domesticated crop genepool and that of its wild relatives, for each of the important plant food species.…”