Pigeonpea Hybrids
Pigeonpea yields have remained low in India over the past five decades and efforts to break this plateau have failed. A non-conventional hybrid breeding approach that breaks the productivity barrier is the answer to India’s increasing pulse imports.
Impacts
- 30-40% yield advantage in farmers’ fields under rainfed and irrigated ecosystems
- 10 commercial hybrids (3 from the public sector and 7 from the private sector) being released in India
- Area under cultivation increased from 40,000 ha (2013) to 127,000 ha (2015) due to collaborative efforts
- 200,000 ha expected to be covered in 2016.
Interventions
- A first-ever legume hybrid was developed for pigeonpea, using new breakthroughs in science.
- New hybrids along with dedicated efforts to work with private industry have led to the seeds being commercially available
- Identified male sterile sources and developed heterotic hybrid combinations with resistance to fusarium wilt and sterility mosaic disease
- Parental lines shared with public and private partners to strengthen their efforts in hybrid breeding and to develop high-yielding hybrids for different agro-ecologies
- Seed production technology standardized to harvest appreciable quantities of hybrid seeds from the female parent
- Three pigeonpea hybrids were released: ICPH 3762 in 2010 in Odisha; ICPH 3762 in 2014; and ICPH 2740 in 2015 in Telangana under the name Mannem Konda Kandi.
