AFLP Fingerprinting in Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.) and its Wild Relatives

Detection of DNA polymorphism in cultivated pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) and two of its wild relatives Cajanus volubilis and Rhynchosia bracteata is reported here for the first time using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprinting. For this purpose, two EcoRI (three selective nucleotides) and 14 MseI (three selective nucleotides) primers were used. The two wild species shared only 7.15% bands with the pigeonpea cultivars, whereas 86.71% common bands were seen among cultivars. Similarly, 62.08% bands were polymorphic between C. volubilis and pigeonpea cultivars in comparison to 63.33% polymorphic bands between R. bracteata and pigeonpea cultivars, and 13.28% polymorphic bands among pigeonpea cultivars. The cluster analysis revealed low polymorphism among pigeonpea cultivars and very high polymorphism between cultivated pigeonpea and its wild relatives. The AFLP analysis also indicated that only one primer combination (EcoRI + ACT and MseI + CTG), at the most any four primer pair combinations, are sufficient for obtaining reliable estimation of genetic diversity in closely related cultivars like pigeonpea material analyzed herein. AFLP analysis may prove to be a useful tool for molecular characterization of pigeonpea cultivars and its wild relatives and for possible use in genome mapping.     

木豆Actin基因片段的克隆及序列分析

根据大豆Actin基因的保守序列设计一对引物Primer 1和Pri mer 2,以木豆叶片总RNA为模板,采用RT-PCR的方法扩增出Actin基因片段并克隆到PMD-18T载体。阳性克隆经PCR检测后测序,序列分析结果表明,该片段长302bp,编码100个氨基酸;所得序列与GenBank中注册的其他植物Actin基因核苷酸序列的同源性均在89%以上,其中与大豆的同源性达94%;与氨基酸序列的同源性均在90%以上。     

Wilt disease management and enhancement of growth and yield of Cajanus cajan (L) var. Manak by bacterial combinations amended with chemical fertilizer

Root nodulating Sinorhizobium fredii KCC5 and Pseudomonas fluorescens LPK2 were isolated from nodules of Cajanus cajan and disease suppressive soil of tomato rhizosphere, respectively. Both strains produced IAA, siderophore, solubilized insoluble phosphate, showed chitinase and β-1,3-glucanase activities, and strongly inhibited the growth of Fusarium udum. It also caused degradation and digestion of cell wall components, resulting in hyphal perforations, empty cell (halo) formation, shrinking and lysis of fungal mycelia along with significant degeneration of conidia. LPK2 produced volatile cyanogen (HCN). Combinations of S. fredii KCC5 and P. fluorescens LPK2 with half dose of chemical fertilizers showed a significant increase in seed germination (94%) while seed germination with co-inoculated strains (KCC5 + LPK2), KCC5 and LPK2 alone was 90, 84 and 82% respectively as compared to control 77%. After 120 days of sowing, per plant number of pods, nodules, shoot length, root length, shoot weight and root weight were greater for the combination with half dose of chemical fertilizers compared to the control. Combinations of S. fredii KCC5 and P. fluorescens LPK2 with half dose of chemical fertilizers resulted in an 82% increase in grain yield per hectare compared to the control. Both strains KCC5 and LPK2 led to proto-cooperation as evidenced by synergism, aggressive colonization of the roots, and enhanced growth, suggesting potential biocontrol efficacy against Fusarium wilt in C. cajan.     

Effects of Timing of Drought Stress on Phenology, Yield and Yield Components of Short-duration Pigeonpea

Nine short-duration pigeonpea genotypes were given adequate soil moisture throughout growth or subjected to water stress during the late vegetative and flowering (stress 1), flowering and early pod development (stress 2), or podfill (stress 3) growth stages under field conditions. The stress 1 treatment had no significant effect on the time to flowering. No stress treatment affected maturity or inter-plant flowering synchronization. The interval from a newly opened flower to a mature pod was about 30 days for all genotypes, and was unchanged in plants that were recovenng from stress 1 or undergoing stress 2. Seed yield was reduced to the greatest extent by stress 2 (by 37 %) and not significantly affected by stress 3 for all genotypes. No consistent differences were found between determinate and indeterminate genotypes in the ability to maintain seed yield under both stress 1 and stress 2. The harvest index was significantly reduced (22 %) by stress 2 but not by stress 1. However, under each soil moisture treatment, genotypic differences for seed yield were associated largely with differences in total dry matter production (TDM). For all genotypes, the number of pods m^-2 was the only yield component significantly affected by the water stress treatments. The stability of other yield components should be fully exploited to improve the stability of seed yield under drought conditions (drought resistance). Possible characteristics which may improve the drought resistance of short-duration pigeonpea include the ability to maintain TDM, low flowering synchronization, small pod size with few seeds pod^-1, and large 100-seed mass.     

A Pot Technique to Screen Pigeonpea Cultivars for Resistance to Waterlogging

To develop a preliminary screening procedure for waterlogging resistance, a waterlogging resistant ICP 8379 and a waterlogging susceptible cultivar ICP 7035 were grown i n pots using different growth media and subjected to 6 days of waterlogging. Waterlogging caused a significant reduction in root dry mass of both cultivars which was greater in ICP 7035 than tn ICP 8379, The reduction i n shoot dry mass was comparatively small. The most conspicuous differences between the two cultivars occurred in terms of plant survival. In different soil treatments, ICP S379 showed 0–38 % mortality and ICP 7035 showed 63–100% mortality. The variation in mortality occurred in response to differences in growth medium. Using the growth medium that gave maximum differences, eight additional cultivars were compared along with ICP 7035 and JCP 8379. Significant differences m plant mortality among different cultivars were observed, A number of cultivars showed similar low mortality as ICP 8379, Therefore, there appears to be a potential t o use this method for preliminary screening of a large number of pigeonpea cultivars for waterlogging resistance.     

Inheritance of stem termination in pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Mill sp.)

Summary Inheritance studies on the stem termination in pigeon pea using F₁, F₂ and F₃ generations of two crosses between determinate and indeterminate lines suggested that two dominant genes with epistatic (inhibitory) interaction of one of them control the interminate growth habit. The gene symbols D. idid and ddIdId have been designated to the parental plants with determinate and indeterminate growth habits, respectively. The gene IdId was epistatic (inhibitory) to the gene D giving a ratio of 13 indeterminate: 3 determinate inthe F₂'s observed. F₃ segregation supported the proposed model on the mode of inheritance.     

Natural out-crossing in dwarf pigeonpea

Summary Natural out-crossing rate in pigeonpea was studied at ICRISAT Center using plant stature (tall plants in dwarf progenies) as the genetic marker. The data indicated natural out-crossing rates of 9.7% to 24.1% with a pooled value of 13.1% in the six populations studied. These data were comparable to earlier studies at the same site using stem colour and growth habit as genetic markers in tall pigeonpea cultivars thus suggesting that foraging of insect pollination vectors is not influenced by plant type. The implications of natural out-crossing on breeding and maintenance of genetic purity of cultivars is discussed.     

Intra species variation in Atylosia scarabaeoides (L.) Benth., a wild relative of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.)

Summary Atylosia scarabaeoides (L.) Benth., a wild relative of pigeonpea, possesses several useful genes which can be utilized for pigeonpea improvement. In the present study, 33 accessions of A. scarabaeoides were evaluated at ICRISAT Center during the 1987 rainy season for variation in some useful traits to identify parents for inter-generic hybridization. A large variation was observed for leaf components, seed size, pod length, seeds/pod, days to flowering, seed protein, sulphur amino acids, resistance to cyst nematode, phytophthora blight, sterility mosaic, fusarium wilt, pod borer, pod fly, and pod wasp. Only four accessions were found to have more than 28% protein content. Methionine and cystine contents were marginally higher than in pigeonpea but the variation was not large enough to utilize them in the breeding program. In A. scarabaeoides. accessions resistant to fusarium wilt, phytophthora blight, sterility mosaic, and cyst nematode were detected. Compared to pigeonpea, the A. scarabaeoides accessions were less susceptible to lepidopteran borer and were immune to pod fly damage. Accessions ICPW 89 and ICPW 111 in short- (100–120 days), and ICPW 94 and ICPW 118 in medium-duration (140–180 days) were identified as potential parents for use in inter-generic hybridization.ICRISAT Journal Article No. 967     

Ineffectiveness of wrapped flower in inhibiting cross-fertilization in pigeonpea

Summary The wrapped flower character has been reported to inhibit out-crossing in pigeonpea in Australia. However, one of the wrapped flower lines gave an average of about 16% out-crossing at ICRISAT Center near Hyderabad, India. This level of out-crossing was not different from that in cultivars having normal (unwrapped) flowers. This suggests that the wrapped flower trait is not a dependable character for reducing out-crossing in pigeonpea.ICRISAT Journal Article No. 578.     

A possible gene source for early,day-length neutral pigeon peas,Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.

Summary Atylosia scarabaeoides Benth. and A. platycarpa Benth., close relatives of the species Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp., were screened for photoperiodic response. Four photoperiods ranging from 12 h 45 min to 19 h were studied in three environments. A. scarabaeoides flowered freely only in the first photoperiod. A. platycarpa not only flowered early (39 to 63 days after planting) in all four photoperiods, but also exhibited a relatively constant vegetative phase up to 16 h of illumination. Cajanus cajan, in which most cultivars-if not all-exhibit a response to photoperiod, was successfully hybridized with the two Atylosia species. It is suggested that genes for earliness and insensitivity to day-length could be transferred from A. platycarpa to C. cajan.