Patancheru, India
July 16, 2008
Red gram or pigeonpea is an
important pulse crop of India where it is grown on about 3.5
million ha. It is a favorite dal (tuar or arhar) of Indian
cuisine. It is a very suitable crop for rainfed agriculture
because it is drought tolerant, needs minimum inputs and
produces reasonable yields under unfavorable agro-ecological
conditions.
Over the past 50 years, pigeonpea productivity has not increased
in spite of several new varieties being released. To achieve a
breakthrough in yield, the
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
(ICRISAT) developed an innovative breeding technology to develop
commercial hybrids in this crop, the first such attempt in any
food legume. ICRISAT is working with the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research, State Agricultural Universities, Seed
Corporations, and private seed companies in this effort.
After 25 years of intense research, the world's first
cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) based pigeonpea hybrid ICPH
2671 was developed by ICRISAT in 2005, and has been named as
'Pushkal' by Pravardhan Seeds. This hybrid is suitable for
cultivation in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Pushkal was launched today by the Director General of ICRISAT,
Dr William D Dar. Also present were Mr Murahari Rao, Managing
Director of Pravardhan Seeds and senior officials from ICRISAT
and Pravardhan Seeds.
Launching the hybrid for cultivation, Dr William Dar said that
the world is witnessing marked volatility in food and energy
prices. Reduced global stocks, climate change, rising human
population, natural calamities such as droughts, coupled with
speculative response to the market signals are a few reasons for
spiraling prices of food and other essential commodities.
Expressing his concern, Dr. Dar said that nearly every
agricultural commodity is fueling the rising price trend.
Stressing the need for urgent attention, Dr Dar said that the
bulk of food proteins in India are derived from pulse crops that
are generally grown under low-input and risk-prone marginal
environments with low and unstable yields. The Green Revolution
of the 1970s ignored legumes that are a major source of protein
in the developing world. At present the protein availability in
India is less than one-third of the recommended dietary
allowance.
Since the food production balance in India will always remain in
favor of cereals, the issue of protein availability assumes
greater significance. Options such as increasing the pulses
growing area, intensive cropping, and enhanced inputs have
limited scope in India. Therefore, to harvest additional protein
the cultivation of hybrid legumes is the most prudent
alternative, Dr Dar opined.
Dr CLL Gowda, Global Theme Leader, Crop Improvement, ICRISAT,
said that the CMS based hybrid seed technology is ready for take
off with all its major components in place. The major
responsibility, now, is to take this research product to the
clients - the farmers of rainfed agriculture.
Considering the high yield potential of the technology, it is
expected that farmers with both small and large holdings will
adopt the hybrids. Since small scale and resource poor farmers
predominantly cultivate pigeonpea, it will be important to keep
the seed cost within the reach of the farmers, he said.
Dr KB Saxena, the
scientist behind this breakthrough, said that the new technology
promises to break the yield barrier, which has been plaguing
Indian agriculture for the past five decades. In achieving this
milestone, Dr. Saxena and his team struggled for 35 years to
overcome various scientific hurdles. He was very optimistic
about the adoption of the hybrid technology. He further
mentioned that in achieving this goal the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR) provided full support in the
research and development of this technology.
At ICRISAT the experimental hybrids have recorded 20% to150%
yield advantage over the best checks, ideal for bringing the
next quantum jump in yield. Eminent agricultural scientist Dr MS
Swaminathan had mentioned that, "hybrid pigeonpea technology is
like dwarfing genes in wheat and rice and this will create a
second green revolution" in India. This breakthrough is the
result of ICRISAT's strong public-private partnership.
On the basis of results from three years and 21 test locations,
ICRISAT scientists believe that hybrid technology in pigeonpea
has become a profound success. One of the important outcomes of
the research program is Pushkal (ICPH 2671). This high yielding,
disease (wilt and sterility mosaic) resistant hybrid was bred at
ICRISAT and gives about 30-40% yield advantage over the popular
variety Maruti. The seed production of the parental lines of
Pushkal has been tried successfully.
Mr Murahari Rao, M.D. Pravardhan Seeds, said that hybrid
pigeonpea technology has a great potential for enhancing yield
and farmers will surely accept this hybrid and other hybrids. He
also thanked ICRISAT for providing the genetic material for
development of Pushkal. |
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