Pigeon pea

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About Pigeonpea

It is also called as arhar and tur in India.
It is an important legume crop and protein-rich food which is primarily consumed as dal in India.
It is predominantly a crop of tropical areas mainly cultivated in semi arid regions of India.
Climatic conditions
- Rain: It requires 600-650mm of annual rainfall along with moist conditions for the initial eight weeks and dry conditions during its flowering and pod development phase.
- Temperature: It can be grown with a temperature ranging from 26⁰C to 30⁰C in the rainy season and 17⁰C to 22⁰C in the post rainy (November to March) season.
- Soil: It can be grown on all types of soil, however, sandy loam or loam soil is most suitable for its cultivation.
- It is very sensitive to low radiation at pod development, therefore flowering during the monsoon and cloudy weather, leads to poor pod formation.
It is commonly intercropped with a wide range of crops. In India, it was estimated that 80 – 90 % of the pigeonpea were intercropped.
The important diseases of Pigeon pea are Wilt, Sterility mosaic disease, Phytophthora blight, Alternaria blight and Powdery mildew etc.
Concern: The Pigeonpea’s long growth cycle and sensitivity to day length have hindered breeding efforts, with only about 250 varieties released globally over six decades.
Health benefits: It has low glycaemic index and is rich in thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B-6, folate, vitamin A, calcium, zinc, iron, magnesium and phosphorus.
Major Pigeon pea producing states: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand.

New protocols of ICRISAT

The new convention promises to substantially cut the time required to develop new Pigeonpea lines with desirable traits, effectively bringing food to dryland communities faster.
The new protocol shortens the breeding and control over factors like photoperiod, temperature, humidity, and breeding cycle to 2 to 4 years while the traditional Pigeonpea breeding takes up to 13 years.

Q1) What is the glycaemic index (GI)?

The glycaemic index (GI) is a rating system for foods containing carbohydrates. It shows how quickly each food affects your blood sugar (glucose) level when that food is eaten on its own.

Source: New protocol can reduce breeding cycle of pigeonpea by 3-5 years, important for nutritional security in drylands