IARI Develops New Drought Tolerant Variety of Chickpea

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research – Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), also known as the 'Pusa Institute', in partnership with Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (JNKVV) Jabalpur, Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Gwalior and ICRISAT, Patancheru Hyderabad, developed the drought-resistant and higher yielding chickpea variety "Pusa JG 16".

The terminal drought is a major issue and can sometimes result in a 50–100 per cent loss of yield in the drought-prone areas of the Central Zone, which include Madhya Pradesh, the Bundelkhand Area of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Southern Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.

Using genomic aided breeding methods, the Pusa JG 16 variety was created by precisely transferring drought-tolerant genes from ICC 4958 to the parental variety J.G.16. The All India Coordinated Research Programme of Chickpea conducted tests at the national level to confirm this variety's drought tolerance.

This variety was created by the ICAR-IARI chickpea team, which included Dr. Bharadwaj, Dr. Rajeev Varshney, Manish Roorkiwal, Anita Babbar, and Indu Swarup.

Dr. Bhardwaj underlined that in addition to having a great tolerance to drought, this variety is also resistant to fusarium wilt and stunt diseases, has a quick maturation period (110 days), and has a higher yield potential than its perennial parent JG 16 (1.3 tons/ha).

The notification of the chickpea variety "Pusa JG 16" by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, was met with joy by Dr. A.K. Singh, Director of ICAR-IARI.

He emphasized that Pusa JG 16 will benefit farmers in the Central Zone of the country's drought-prone regions. He further thanked the breeders and all of the partners for this fantastic accomplishment.