Pigeonpea

Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh) is an important grain legume crop grown in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Though pigeonpea has a narrow genetic base, vast genetic resources are available for its genetic improvement. Evaluation of small subsets, such as core (10% of the whole collection) and mini-core collections (about 1% of the entire collection), has resulted in the identification of promising diverse sources for agronomic and nutrition-related traits as well as resistance/tolerance to important biotic/abiotic stresses for use in pigeonpea improvement programmes. Wild relatives of pigeonpea are the reservoir of many useful genes, including resistance/tolerance to diseases, insect pests and drought and good agronomic traits, and also have contributed to the development of cytoplasmic male sterility systems for pigeonpea improvement. Availability of genomic resources, including the genome sequence, will facilitate greater use of germplasm to develop new cultivars with a broad genetic base