The alternative breeding approaches for improving yield gains and stress response in pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan)

Abstract

Pigeonpea is an important food legume crop of semi-arid tropical regions. Plateauing of pigeonpea yield has been worrying breeders for the past 6–7 decades. Serious breeding efforts made during this period resulted in various high-yielding and disease resistant cultivars. However, the gains in pigeonpea productivity have been modest. The authors, while reviewing this situation, conclude that long generation turnover, complexity of biological traits, low selection response and overreliance upon pedigree breeding present the key bottlenecks for this situation. In this paper, some alternative breeding approaches and technologies are suggested for the genetic enhancement of yield stability and stress response of pigeonpea.