Genetic Adjustment to Changing Climates: Chickpea

Abstract

It has now been predicted that future crops and agriculture systems have to face variable climates and these changes require adjustment of crops to feed the world growing population. For sustainable global food and feed security, and soli health, the cereal based systems need to be diversified with crops like chickpea which provide these benefits. However, chickpea research needs to focus on challenges arising due to changing climates to be best fitted into the system approach as well as a sole crop. Although it is unlikely that a single technology/methodology will be adequate to overcome the effects of environmental stresses on chickpea under the changing climates, but an integrated approach of combing conventional chickpea breeding techniques with advance tools of biotechnology could adjust chickpea to these new challenges. For genetic adjustment of chickpea to variable climates we are now experiencing, the chickpea breeding programs around the world need to develop C02 and irrigation responsive, temperature, and drought tolerant responsive high yielding cultivars through combination of conventional, molecular marker directed, and transgenic breeding approaches. Therefore, the future trust of chickpea improvement programs around the globe could be mining of genetic resources (land races, wild relatives) to search genes for tolerance, maturity and yield, identify and locate gene(s) and its sequences controlling those traits, identify physiological traits that contribute to improved productivity under harsh climates, and selection of CO2 and irrigation responsive genotypes to realize the potential for yield gains in the future.