Pea

(Pisum sativum, 2n=2x=14)

The pea crop is consumed as fresh vegetable in green form and dry seeds as dal after maturity.

Centre of origin – According to Vavilov, the primary centres includes; Ethiopia,

Mediterranean and Central Asia.

Cultivated spp. are – Pisum sativum (Vegetable pea/table pea, flowers are white colour)
Pisum arvense (Field pea, flowers are purple colour)

Other wild spp. are – P. humile

P. fulvum
P. elatius
P. abyssinicum
P. jomardi
Probable progenitor – P. humile

Breeding objectives:
1. High Yield: For garden pea/vegetable pea – high green pod yield, long attractive green pods,
sweetness, high shelling percentage and specific maturity time.
For field pea – high seed yield, bold attractive seeds and early maturity.
2. Breeding for early maturity – advantage is that we can take one more crop in spring season,
if early variety grown in rabi.
3. Breeding for shattering resistance – loss in yield due to shattering of mature pod.
4. Breeding for disease resistance – Important diseases in case of pea are, downey mildew,
powdery mildew, rust and wilt.
5. Breeding for insect resistance – Major insects of pea includes; leaf minor, aphids, pod
borer, pea stem fly etc.
6. Breeding for better quality – high protein content (20-25 %) and concentration of sulphur
containing amino acids like methionine and cysteine.
7. Breeding for modified plant habit – which include three different features-
a) Afila character (tendril character) – leaflet of main leaf converted into branch tendrils,
which increases the stability of the plant and ultimately plant yields higher.
Network of tendrils above canopy, also prevents the bird damage.
This character is governed by ‘af’ gene and improves standing ability of pea.
b) Dwarfing gene - governed by single recessive gene ‘le’. It has 15-20% yield advantage over
the tall varieties.
c) Base of the plant – generally it is thin, if thickness increases then standing ability improves.

Breeding procedures: As pea crop is highly self-pollinated, so all the methods of self-
pollinated crops can be utilized for this crop.
1) Introduction
2) Selection – mass selection and pure-line selection
3) Pedigree method
4) Bulk breeding method
5) Backcross breeding method
6) Hybridization
7) Mutation breeding
8) Genetic engineering methods/biotechnological tools

Chickpea
Cicer arietinum 2n=16
Importance of chickpea:
1. Grain contains about 18-22% protein. It also contain Mg, Fe and minerals in trace
amounts.
2. It also has medicinal properties as it is used in skin care products and also reduces the
cholesterol level.
3. It has soil conditioning properties as nitrogen fixation, rhizosphere acidification and it also
convert inorganic phosphorus to organic which is easily available to the plants.

The chick pea can be used as dal (mature grain), green vegetable, as cattle feed and flour is
used to make various dishes.

Place of origin: South-East Turkey and adjoining Syria

Probable progenitor: C. reticulatum

The closely related wild species are - C. reticulatum, C. bijugum and C. echinospermum
Other important wild species includes – C. judaicum, C. pinnatifidum, C. cuneatum

In case of chickpea, we have two cultivated types as Desi and Kabuli. The difference between
these two cultivated types are as follows –
Character Desi type Kabuli type
Seed size Small Bold/large
Flower colour Pigmented White
Growth habit Spreading Tall strature
Branches More no. of secondary branches More no. of primary branches
No. of pods More Less
No. of seeds/pod More Less
Seed colour Brown White

Breeding objectives:
1. Breeding for high yield.
2. Breeding for short duration varieties.
3. Breeding for tall erect plant – tall plants as good light penetration is there so uniform maturity
and less humidity so less diseases and insects-pests. Erect and compact habit as it can
accommodate more number of plants per unit area.
4. Breeding for disease resistant varieties – the important diseases are; Fusarium wilt,
Aschochyta blight, root rot, Botrytis grey mold.
5. Breeding for insect resistant varieties – Pod borer and bihar hairy caterpillar
6. Resistance to abiotic stress – drought tolerance, tolerance to low temperature as well as high
temperature and tolerance to salinity/alkalinity.
7. Breeding for varieties with improve seed quality – more protein and more sulphur containing
amino-acids.
8. Development of bold seeded varieties.

Desi-Kabuli introgression – It is very important in chickpea, to transfer many characters such

as large no. of primary branches, large seed size, tall strature, cold tolerance and resistant to
Aschochyta blight from Kabuli to Desi.
The Desi type can contribute large no. of secondary branches, more pods per plant, more seeds
per pod and resistance to drought and wilt.

Breeding Methods:
1) Introduction
2) Selection – mass selection and pure-line selection
3) Pedigree method
4) Bulk breeding method
5) Backcross breeding method
6) Hybridization
7) Mutation breeding
8) Genetic engineering methods/biotechnological tools

Lentil
Lens culinaris (2n=14)
It is a low input pulse crop grown mainly in India, Pakistan, Egypt, Greece and Italy.

Place of origin: Near East or Mediterranean origin

Probable progenitor: Lens orientalis

Other important species are – L. nigricans

L. esculenta
L. montbretti
L. ervoides

In case of cultivated lentil, there are two botanical types; Macrosperma and Microsperma.
The difference between these two are as follows –
Character Macrosperma Microsperma
Grain Size Large Small
Indigenous to Mediterranean region Indian Subcontinent
Foliage colour Light green Dark green
Growth habit Erect Spreading
Root system Deep root Shallow root
Cotyledon colour Yellow Orange or pink
Genetics of important traits:
Growth habit: gh gh = prostrate/spreading type
Gh Gh = Erect
Flower colour: VV PP = violet
vv PP = pink
VV pp = white

Breeding objectives:
1. Breeding for high yield.
2. Breeding for short duration varieties.
3. Breeding for disease resistant varieties – the important diseases are; Fusarium wilt and rust.
4. Breeding for insect resistant varieties – Pod borer, cut worm and aphids.
5. Resistance to abiotic stress – drought tolerance and tolerance to low temperature
6. Breeding for varieties with improve seed quality – Quality includes three parameters in case
of lentil; Protein content (23-36%), Cooking time (less time) and Digestibility (high). There is
a negative correlation between protein content and seed yield. For cooking quality, there is a
positive correlation between cooking time and seed size, therefore, seed size can be used to
predict the cooking quality.
7. Development of bold seeded varieties.

Breeding Methods:
1) Introduction
2) Selection – mass selection and pure-line selection
3) Pedigree method
4) Bulk breeding method
5) Backcross breeding method
6) Hybridization
7) Mutation breeding
8) Genetic engineering methods/biotechnological tools

“Eat pulse to keep your pulse well”