Interspecific Hybridization for Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Improvement

The narrow genetic base of crop cultivars such as chickpea is one of the major constraints limiting their genetic improvement. Sufficient genetic variability is available in the genus Cicer, which comprises eight annual and 35 perennial wild Cicer species, for chickpea improvement. These wild species carry many useful genes/alleles for resistance/tolerance to different biotic/abiotic stresses as well as for agronomic and nutrition-related traits, thus offering great potential for the genetic enhancement of cultivated chickpea. In spite of their high potential and importance as new and diverse sources of variation, these wild Cicer species have not been used adequately in the chickpea improvement programs. In this chapter, efforts have been made to present a review of the status of different genebanks conserving wild Cicer species, and our current understanding of the progress made so far in introgressing the genes/alleles from wild Cicer species by various researchers. The need for systematic pre-breeding activities to bridge the gap between the wild Cicer species conserved in the genebanks and utilization in breeding programs is discussed. At ICRISAT, Patancheru, India, systematic pre-breeding activities are in progress to enrich the genetic variability in the primary genepool by developing new genepools with a high frequency of useful genes, wider adaptability, and a broad genetic base by using wild Cicer Interspecific Hybridization for Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Improvement Shivali Sharma1,*, Hari D. Upadhyaya2, Manish Roorkiwal3 and Rajeev K. Varshney4 1 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502324, Telangana, India, E-mail: shivali.sharma@cgiar.org 2 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502324, Telangana, India, E-mail: h.upadhyaya@cgiar.org 3 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502324, Telangana, India, Email: m.roorkiwal@cgiar.org 4 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502324, Telangana, India, Email: r.k.varshney@cgiar.org * Corresponding author species and chickpea cultivars. The present status and future strategies for the efficient and effective utilization of wild Cicer species for generating new variability for chickpea improvement, and the potential of newly developed genomic tools to enhance the efficiency of such pre-breeding activities, is also discussed.