The ICRISAT-ICARDA progam

The overall objectives of the chickpea breeding program at ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics) and ICARDA (International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas) are: to develop high-yielding disease- and pest-resistant chickpea cultivars; to supply advanced breeding lines to national and local breeding programs; and exchange of information, germplasm and personnel with other programs. Most breeding material has been handled according to the pedigree method. 8158 crosses were made at ICRISAT and 505 crosses were made at ICARDA between 1973-1978. Selection among crosses was made on the basis of Fl performance, evaluated visually. Selection within crosses involved growing F2 populations at 2 sites. These were evaluated visually to select desirable phenotypes. All progenies at both sites were evaluated in the F3 and selection within the best progenies in subsequent generations was followed by testing at both sites. Advanced lines that have given high yields have been produced and developing high-yielding cultivars is still a top priority research goal. However, pedigree plant breeding methods are not particularly well-adapted to selecting for high yields and may be replaced by bulk advance, speeded up by rapid generation turnove