Next generation breeding in pulses: Present status and future directions

Abstract

Human population growth in combination with changing patterns of global food consumption under climate change is posing formidable challenge to attaining sustainable global food security. Besides being economically viable sources of plant based protein for human consumption, pulses are also beneficial for the environment owing to their inherent capacity of nitrogen fixation. Hence, further development of pulses has become imperative in the vigorously transitional global scenario where flourishing anthropogenic activities are triggering irreplaceable depletion of natural resources. During past years, considerable attention has been given on the use of next generation sequencing for enriching the genomic resources in pulse crops including high-throughput DNA markers, candidate gene(s) and QTLs for predicting plant phenotypes, and whole genome sequences. With refinements in DNA sequencing technologies and computational analytical tools, the rapidly grown numbers of sequenced pulse genomes offer novel insights on crop evolution and breeding history.Integration of new-generation genomic and phenomic tools with generation acceleration procedures like genomic selection and speed breeding could greatly accelerate progress in pulses genetic improvement. The present review discusses current status and future scope of using next-generation breeding approaches in pulses that will cause not only an increase in the rate of developing climateresilient superior cultivars but also help to reach to goal of global food security.

Adaptability and stability of mungbean genotypes in the Mid-North of Mato Grosso, Brazil

“…Mungbeans are widely used worldwide, especially in Asian cuisine (Nair et al, 2019), and belong to a subgroup of leguminous plants known as pulses whose dry seeds are used for human nutrition (Kumar et al, 2021).…”

“…Pulses are important sources of protein and benefit the soil through nitrogen fixation (Cheng et al, 2019;Kumar et al, 2021).…”

“…The rapid global population growth, combined with changing patterns of food consumption and the effects of climate change, has posed a challenge to sustainably achieving worldwide food security (Kumar et al, 2021). In this scenario, pulses are considered key crops for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals concerning food security, improving protein consumption, and promoting sustainable agriculture by 2030 (Cheng et al, 2019;Kumar et al, 2021). Therefore, research attention and investment in pulse crops have grown considerably in recent years (Cheng et al, 2019;Menezes Júnior;Rocha, 2019;Nair et al, 2019;Sequeros et al, 2020).…”

Resistance screening and in-vitro efficacy of fungicides for the management of dry root rot of chickpea caused by Rhizoctonia bataticola

“…In comparison to cereal crops, pulses have fallen behind in terms of genetic development. Nonetheless, in recent years, significant progress has been achieved in utilizing current genomic techniques and breeding approaches that support pulse genetic improvement (Kumar et al, 2021). Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the most frequently farmed pulse, accounting for 75 % of India's total pulse production (Ali et al, 2020).…”

Present status and future directions for management of root lesion nematode (Pratylenchus thornei) in chickpea

“…The global average yield of chickpea is less than 1 t/ha, significantly less than the 6 t/ha potential output under favourable and irrigated circumstances (Varshney et al, 2017). This huge gap between actual and predicted chickpea yields is attributable to biotic challenges including insects, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and viruses, as well as abiotic factors like drought, nutritional shortages, salinity, and cold (Roorkiwal et al, 2016;Kumar et al, 2021). Since 1961, chickpea productivity has consistently increased, but its vulnerability to biotic and abiotic stressors has also increased, presumably due to the restricted number of germplasm accessions/donor parents used and reused (Muehlbauer and Sarker, 2017).…”