The decades-old fantasy of enhancing pigeonpea productivity
Keywords:
Yield stagnation, Genomics, Hybrid breeding, Production systemsAbstract
Pigeonpea has long been perceived as a high-protein food that is low in its onfarm productivity. The research efforts made in the past half-century towards increasing its yields have not shown positive signs in achieving the goal. For example, in 1970-71, the mean yield of pigeonpea was 707 kg/ha, and now in 2024-25, it rests at only 856 kg/ha. This simply means that in the last 54 years of R&D, its average yield could crawl only 149 kg/ha. Considering the nutritional security and financial health of the subsistence farmers, concerted efforts are required to increase the yield of pigeonpea. In this context, although efforts have been made at various institutes, the same output has been achieved. Therefore, the research advances accomplished so far in the fields of plant breeding, seed quality control, genomics, and crop management should knit together again to form a new, broad-based platform for pigeonpea research and development. It is also true that past conventional research efforts successfully produced a number of widely adapted inbred cultivars, which, at the national level, led to a significant increase in pigeonpea-cropped area, but the on-farm productivity continued to lag far behind its potential. In recent times, two research accomplishments have shown promise. These include the development of (i) CMS-based hybrid breeding technology and (ii) the evolution of new and accurate genomics tools. It is expected that these may play a significant role in increasing the efficiency of plant breeding programmes. The development of high-yielding and climate-resilient pigeonpea varieties calls for accelerated genetic gains through the integration of modern plant breeding and genomics-enabled approaches. The merging of strategic approaches such as hybrid breeding, genomic selection, speed breeding, and sybrid populations offer positive scope to improve the breeding values of the end-products. Truly speaking, challenging the long-held myth of limited yield enhancement in pigeonpea would not only require an effective integration of advanced breeding tools but also a greater emphasis on the targeted use of genetic resources and resolution of seed system bottlenecks. Collectively, these amendments are likely to provide compelling evidence for enhanced productivity gains in this valuable pulse crop.
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