In a big breakthrough, a team of 19 scientists have re-sequenced the genome or DNA of 292 pigeon pea (arhar dal) varieties that would help in development of better varieties of this crop and boost production. India’s pulses production is estimated to have risen to record 22.4 million tonnes in the 2016-17 crop year, of which 4.6 million tonnes was tur output. India imported about 5 million tonnes of pulses last fiscal to meet domestic demand.
“A global team of 19 scientists from 9 institutes have re-sequenced the genome or DNA of 292 pigeon pea varieties (Cajanus cajan — commonly called arhar or tur dal in India),” International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) said in a statement. Agriculture Secretary SK Pattanayak said this discovery would help in the Government’s mission to double farmers’ incomes. This is one of the biggest breakthroughs in pigeon pea research since the decoding of its DNA sequence in 2011 by an ICRISAT-led global research team, the statement said.