Harnessing the potential of crop wild relatives through genomics tools for pigeonpea improvement

Abstract

Cultivated pigeonpea germplasm has a narrow genetic base due to the bottlenecks caused by domestication and breeding from a small number of genotypes. Pigeonpea genetic improvement has witnessed a slow pace due to low genetic diversity and to the scarce genomics resources. To address these challenges, wild relatives of pigeonpea which represent an unexploited resource of vast genetic variation can be incorporated in breeding programmes facilitating the broadening of genetic base. Although interspecific hybridization has not been commercially successful in pigeonpea, it has played an important role in the development of the cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) system. Recent years however have witnessed the development of genomics resources at large scale in the crop which has remained untouched with genomics revolution in the past. These resources, together with advances in genomics platform such as high throughput genotyping assays and next generation sequencing technologies and modern genetics and breeding approaches will accelerate harnessing natural variation for pigeonpea improvement.