Prospects of Pigeonpea Hybrids in Indian Agriculture

Stagnant production, soaring prices, and enhanced imports of pigeonpea (red gram) have been matter of concern to the prime stakeholders in India. A new hybrid pigeonpea breeding technology, developed jointly by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) is capable of substantially increasing the productivity of red gram, and thus offering hope of pulse revolution in the country. The hybrid technology, based on cytoplasmic nuclear male-sterility (CMS) system, has given an opportunity of achieving the long-cherished goal of breaking yield barrier in pigeonpea. In the past two years ICRISAT and ICAR have tested over 1000 experimental hybrids and among these GTH 1 and ICPH 2671 were found the most outstanding. GTH-1 has yielded 32% more yield than best local variety, GT 101. ICPH 2671 is highly resistant to fusarium wilt and sterility mosaic diseases and produced 38% more yield over the popular variety Maruti in multi-location trials conducted for over four years. In the on-farm trials conducted in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand during 2007, 2008 and 2009 have demonstrated 30% yield advantage over local check varieties. So far the progress in the mission of enhancing the productivity of pigeonpea has been encouraging and the reality of commercial hybrids is just around the corner. The new hybrid pigeonpea will serve as the platform for the tremendous growth of pulse production in India.