______________________________From Orphan Crop to Pacesetter

Once these key traits had been identified, much work was needed to place them in genetic backgrounds that were heterotic in combination, synchronous in flowering, and agronomically desirable. Since 1977, over 1200 experimental hybrids have been tested, and the best have been shared with NARS and the private sector. Diverse male-sterile lines have also been made available for NARS and seed companies to incorporate into their own breeding programs.

The impact
The first major impact was on partnerships. The creation of a hybrid pigeonpea technology stimulated excitement among partner institutions — and they rushed to join in.

The hybrid technology was shared with ICAR and 14 public and private seed companies in India in the late 1980s/early 90s. In 1989, a comprehensive hybrid pigeonpea development initiative was launched by ICAR involving nine of its centers. In short order, leading Indian agricultural universities and ICAR developed two additional hybrids, PPH 4 (Verma et al. 1994) and CoH 1 (Rathnaswamy et al.1994).

The private sector also became involved. Annually since 1992, the Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (MAHYCO) has been marketing sufficient pigeonpea hybrid seed to cover an estimated 2,000 ha. The demand far exceeds supply.

Supply has been constrained by the technical difficulties inherent in the seed production system, which demands
diligent rogueing labor, and requires

contract growers to forego the large potential seed yields of the rogued plants. Seed companies must test seed lots using grow-outs, which defers growers’ compensation. These difficulties should ease as more experience is gained, and operations are streamlined.

The hybrids demonstrated a consistent grain yield advantage of 25–35% over non-hybrid varieties of similar plant type and duration (Table 1).