Abiotic stresses,constraints and improvement strategies in chickpea

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is cultivated mostly in the arid and semi‐arid regions of the world. Climate change will bring new production scenarios as the entire growing area in Indo–Pak subcontinent, major producing area of chickpea, is expected to undergo ecological change, warranting strategic planning for crop breeding and husbandry. Conventional breeding has produced several high‐yielding chickpea genotypes without exploiting its potential yield owing to a number of constraints. Among these, abiotic stresses include drought, salinity, water logging, high temperature and chilling frequently limit growth and productivity of chickpea. The genetic complexity of these abiotic stresses and lack of proper screening techniques and phenotyping techniques and genotype‐by‐environment interaction have further jeopardized the breeding programme of chickpea. Therefore, considering all dispiriting aspects of abiotic stresses, the scientists have to understand the knowledge gap involving the physiological, biochemical and molecular complex network of abiotic stresses mechanism. Above all emerging ‘omics’ approaches will lead the breeders to mine the ‘treasuring genes’ from wild donors and tailor a genotype harbouring ‘climate resilient’ genes to mitigate the challenges in chickpea production.     

Screening chickpea for adaptation to water stress: Associations between yield and crop growth rate

Robust associations between yield and crop growth rate in a species-specific critical developmental window have been demonstrated in many crops. In this study we focus on genotype-driven variation in crop growth rate and its association with chickpea yield under drought. We measured crop growth rate using Normalised Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) in 20 diverse chickpea lines, after calibration of NDVI against biomass accounting for morphological differences between Kabuli and Desi types. Crops were grown in eight environments resulting from the combination of seasons, sowing dates and water supply, returning a yield range from 152 to 366 g m⁻². For both sources of variation – environment and genotype – yield correlated with crop growth rate in the window 300 °Cd before flowering to 200 °Cd after flowering. In the range of crop growth rate from 0.07 to 0.91 g m⁻² °Cd⁻¹, the relationship was linear with zero intercept, as with other indeterminate grain legumes. Genotype-driven associations between yield and crop growth rate were stronger under water stress than under favourable conditions. Despite this general trend, lines were identified with high crop growth rate in both favourable and stress conditions. We demonstrate that calibrated NDVI is a rapid, inexpensive screening tool to capture a physiologically meaningful link between yield and crop growth rate in chickpea.     

Integrated crop management of chickpea in environments of Bangladesh prone to Botrytis grey mould

Botrytis grey mould (BGM) is the major constraint to chickpea production in Bangladesh and is considered primarily responsible for that country's recent drastic decrease in chickpea production. There is no substantial host plant resistance to BGM in current chickpea cultivars, but component studies have developed various agronomic options to manage the disease. These include reduced seed rate, delayed sowing and thinning of plants to ensure an open canopy, and need-based foliar application of fungicide. These components were combined with other agronomic requirements for the target region, such as application of phosphate fertilizer, pest management measures against chickpea pod borer, and fungicidal seed treatment against collar rot. The resultant integrated crop management (ICM) package was compared with normal farmer practice (FP) for chickpea cultivation in farmer-managed, operational scale plots at 100 locations across five districts in western Bangladesh in the 2002–2003 and 2003–2004 seasons. Grain yields in ICM plots were generally 15–50% higher than in FP in both seasons. Conduct of these on-farm evaluations in two additional districts in 2004–2005 gave similar results. In 2004–2005, 505 farmer-managed demonstrations were conducted in the five original districts, giving a 5–104% yield advantage (district means) of ICM over FP. In 2005–2006, 642 demonstrations were conducted across the eight districts giving district-wise yield advantages of 27–70%. Effective implementation of BGM management practices by participating farmers demonstrated that remunerative and reliable chickpea yields could be obtained in this BGM-prone environment. The ICM strategy evolved has relevance to other chickpea growing regions prone to BGM in South Asia, Australia and the Americas. Studies are now required on the adoption of components of the ICM package, and the underlying reasons, to identify any adoption constraints and thus guide further promotion of chickpea cultivation.     

Control of chickpea blight disease caused by Didymella rabiei by mixing resistance inducer and contact fungicide

Elicitors of systemic acquired resistance are well known to reduce severity of several plant pathogenic diseases caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses. Their field applications for management of plant diseases are, however, limited because of yield penalties. Our studies on affect of Benzo (1,2,3)-thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid S-methyl ester (BTH), an elicitor of systemic acquired resistance, on chickpea blight caused by a fungal pathogen Didymella rabiei showed that multiple foliar applications of the chemical were effective in management of the disease under economic threshold levels. Multiple applications, however, affected chickpea grain yield adversely. The BTH induced yield penalties could be prevented by foliar spray schedule comprised of BTH and a contact fungicide mancozeb. One spray of BTH (50 ppm) followed by another of mancozeb (0.2%) was less effective (8.3% severity) than three sprays of BTH (4.2% severity) in blight control, however, this treatment enhanced grain yield significantly (1.241 t ha⁻¹) over three sprays of BTH (0.922 t ha⁻¹).     

Enhancing of symbiotic efficiency and salinity tolerance of chickpea by phosphorus supply

This study aims to highlight the beneficial effect of the phosphorus on enhancing of growth plant, the efficiency of use rhizobial symbiosis and ionic partition in chickpea grown under salt stress. Exposure of plants to salt stress (0, 150 mM of NaCl) caused ionic imbalance, which resulted in increased Na⁺ and P and reduced K⁺ contents in the leaves and root. Indeed, stressed plants showed decrease of plant growth and phosphorus use efficiency. The efficiency use of rhizobial symbiosis was also affected by salinity. However, addition of two different level of phosphorus (37 and 55 mM) to saline soil increased significantly availability of P in plant organs. Specially, the (150 mM NaCl?×?37 mM P) mixture increased (33%) phosphorus use efficiency, induced better nodulation and increased plant biomass which results in the high efficiency in use of the rhizobial symbiosis. Our findings suggest that the combination of low level of P to saline soil presumably improved the tolerance of chickpea plant to salinity.

Abbreviations: phosphorus (P); phosphorus use efficiency (PUE); biological nitrogen fixation (BNF); plant dry weight (PDW); yeast extract mannitol (YEM); efficiency in use of the rhizobial symbiosis (EURS); shoot dry weight (SDW); symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF).     

鹰嘴豆锌指蛋白基因ZE1的克隆及表达分析

利用一段从PEG胁迫的鹰嘴豆幼苗叶片所构建的cDNA文库中得到的EST序列,通过3'RACE方法克隆到一个鹰嘴豆C_2H_2型锌指蛋白基因ZF1,该基因不含内含子,编码一条244个氨基酸残基的多肽,含有两个典型的Cys2/His2锌指结构.其氨基酸序列含有一个可能的核定位型号,农杆菌介导的洋葱表皮细胞GFP瞬时表达实验表明,ZF1蛋白位于细胞核内.半定量RT-PCR分析表明,ZF1在鹰嘴豆的根、茎、叶、花、幼荚和幼胚中均有表达,在茎和叶中表达较弱,为组成型转录因子.半定量RT-PCR和实时荧光定量PCR检测结果显示,ZF1不但受高温及干旱诱导,而且还受6-苄基腺嘌呤(6-BA)、脱落酸(ABA)、乙烯利(Et)、赤霉素(GA_3)、吲哚-3-乙酸(IAA)、茉莉酸甲酯(MeJA)、水杨酸(SA)和氧胁迫诱导.这些结果表明,ZF1基因可能作为一个核调控因子参与植物的生长代谢以及多种生物与非生物胁迫的应答.     

Glomus intraradices, Pseudomonas alcaligenes, and Bacillus pumilus: effective agents for the control of root-rot disease complex of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

The effects of Glomus intraradices, Pseudomonas alcaligenes and Bacillus pumilus on the root-rot disease complex caused by the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita and the root-rot fungus Macrophomina phaseolina in chickpea was assessed by quantifying differences in the shoot dry mass, pod number, nodulation, and shoot content of chlorophyll, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Inoculation of plants with G. intraradices, P. alcaligenes and B. pumilus alone and in combination significantly increased shoot dry mass, pod number, and content of chlorophyll, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in plants inoculated with pathogens over that in the uninoculated control plants. P. alcaligenes caused a greater increase in shoot dry mass, pod number, chlorophyll, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in plants with pathogens than did G. intraradices or B. pumilus. Combined application of G. intraradices, P. alcaligenes and B. pumilus to plants inoculated with pathogens caused a greater increase in shoot dry mass, pod number, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium than did an application of P. alcaligenes plus B. pumilus or of G. intraradices plus B. pumilus. Root colonization by G. intrardices was high when used alone, while inoculation with the pathogens reduced root colonization by G. intraradices. In the presence of P. alcaligenes and B. pumilus, root colonization by G. intraradices increased. In plants inoculated with just one antagonist, P. alcaligenes reduced galling and nematode multiplication the most, followed by G. intraradices, then B. pumilus. The greatest reduction in galling, nematode multiplication and root-rot was observed when both bacterial species and G. intraradices were applied together.     

NaCl胁迫对鹰嘴豆根尖细胞有丝分裂的影响

[目的]为鹰嘴豆的抗性研究奠定细胞遗传学基础。[方法]以鹰嘴豆根尖为材料,用不同浓度的NaCl溶液(0.05、0.10、0.15、0.20、0.25 mol/L)分别处理24和48 h,观察根尖分生组织细胞有丝分裂及染色体行为。[结果]当NaCl浓度≥0.1 mol/L时,处于分裂期的细胞逐渐减少,并且鹰嘴豆根尖细胞出现染色体黏连、后期染色体分离不同步、微核、染色体断裂、染色体桥、不均等分裂、后期滞后染色体等畸变现象。[结论]NaCl作为一种胁迫因子,对鹰嘴豆细胞的有丝分裂有抑制作用,且具有遗传毒性效应。     

烤烟套种免耕鲜食蚕豆对其经济性状的影响

为探索烤烟套种免耕蚕豆技术,通过田间试验,进行了烤烟中部烟叶采收后套种免耕鲜食蚕豆与顶叶采收后种植蚕豆研究,结果表明:烤烟套种免耕鲜食蚕豆比烟叶采收后种植蚕豆的烤烟产量提高幅度达0.13%~0.25%,产值为0.21%~0.77%;鲜食蚕豆的产量提高幅度达112.8~153.3 kg/hm2,产值为10 125.30~10 188.45元/hm2,蚕豆综合经济效益提高幅度为9.71%~9.82%。该研究为烤烟套种蚕豆提高复种指数,增加农民收入提供了基础资料。     

New early-maturing germplasm lines for utilization in chickpea improvement

Early-maturity helps chickpea to avoid terminal heat and drought and increases its adaptation especially in the sub-tropics. Breeding for early-maturing, high-yielding and broad-based cultivars requires diverse sources of early-maturity. Twenty-eight early-maturing chickpea germplasm lines representing wide geographical diversity were identified using core collection approach and evaluated with four control cultivars in five environments for 7 qualitative and 16 quantitative traits at ICRISAT Center, Patancheru, India. Significant genotypic variance was observed for days to flowering and maturity in all the environments indicating scope for selection. Genotypes × environment interactions were significant for days to flowering and maturity and eight other agronomic traits. ICC 16641, ICC 16644, ICC 11040, ICC 11180, and ICC 12424 were very early-maturing, similar to or earlier than control cultivars Harigantars and ICCV 2. The early-maturing accessions produced on average 22.8% more seed yield than the mean of four control cultivars in the test environments. ICC 14648, ICC 16641 and ICC 16644 had higher 100-seed weight than control cultivars, Annigeri and ICCV 2. Cluster analysis delineated three clusters, which differed significantly for all the traits. First cluster comprised three controls, ICCV 96029, Harigantars, ICCV 2 and two germplasm lines, ICC 16644 and ICC 16641, second cluster comprised 13 germplasm lines and control cultivar Annigeri, and third cluster comprised 13 germplasm lines. Maturity was main basis of delineation of the first cluster from others. Plot yield and its associated traits were the main basis for delineation of the second cluster from the others. Identification of these diverse early-maturing lines would be useful in breeding broad-based, early-maturing and high-yielding cultivars.