CONTENTS

VOLUME 24, No. 4 OCTOBER - DECEMBER, 2013

News 2 Rice-fallow Review Meeting Held Dr. N. Nadarajan Retires Dr. N.P. Singh Takes over as

Acting Director of IIPR Fast Track Young Scientist ProjectResearch Highlights 2-6 Early Flowering Genotypes in Lentil Folate Content in Lentil Reference Gene Evaluation for Real

Time PCR in Pigeonpea Heavy Infestation of Celosia

argentea in Pigeonpea Management of Rice Ratoon in

Rice-fallow Pulses System Co-Inoculation of ACC Deaminase

Producing Bacteria and Mesorhizo-bium for Chickpea Growth and Yield

Diagnostic Kits for Legume YellowMosaic Viruses

Land Configuration for Better PlantStand

Pulses are Highly Responsive toOrganic Agriculture

Occurrence of Colletotrichum blighton Chickpea in Karnataka

Insect Pest Incidence in ShortDuration Pigeonpea

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EDITORIAL COMMITTEEDr. N. Nadarajan ChairmanDr. P.S. Basu MemberDr. M.S. Venkatesh MemberDr. Jitendra Kumar MemberDr. Naimuddin MemberMr. D. Upadhyaya Member Secretary

Group Meet on Mungbean and Urdbean forSpring, Summer and Rice Fallow Cultivation

Annual Group Meet on“Mungbean and urdbean for spring,summer and rice fallow cultivation” washeld at Central Agricultural ResearchInstitute (CARI), Port Blair, Andaman& Nicobar Islands on October 25-26,2013. The groupmeet wasinaugurated byDr. N. Nadarajan,Director, IIPRand Dr. S. DamRoy, Director,CARI, Port Blairpresided over thefunction. About38 scientistsfrom different Institutes and Universitiesparticipated in the meet including JointDirector, Department of Agriculture,A&N Administration, Dy. GeneralManager and Asstt. General Managerof NABARD, officers from different linedepartments, development personalsfrom A&N Administration, ProgrammeCoordinator and SMSs of KVK, PortBlair. Dr. R.K. Gautam, Head, Divisionof Field Crops delivered the welcomeaddress and described about theimportance of pulse cultivation andpulse nutrition.

Dr. G.P. Dixit, Principal Scientistand Project Coordinator (I/c), AICRP onMULLaRP briefly explained the

research activities undertaken duringlast year and the future plan ofresearch l ike gene pyramiding,interspecif ic hybridization, IPMmodules for threatening diseases andpests, and conservation agricultural

techniques like rice fallow pulses,minimum tillage or no tillage agronomicpractices, etc.

Dr. N. Nadarajan, Director, IIPRinaugurated the session and discussedin detail about the pulse scenario inthe country. He elaborated that the totalrequirement of pulses in India is about21 million tons, whereas our presentproduction is about 18 million tons.He also explained because of last threeyears of research efforts, our productionraised to 18.5 million tons and therebywe could reduce the export from five toless than three million tons. He alsobriefed the future research priorities inpulses.

2 Indian Institute of Pulses Research

Rice- fallow Review Meeting Held

Review meetingof the project"Mitigating abioticstresses andenhancing resourceuse efficiency in pulsesin rice fallows throughinnovative resourcec o n s e r v a t i o npractices" was held on November 29-30, 2013 at BCKV, Kalyani under thechairmanship of Dr. C.L. Acharya,Chairman Advisory Committee. Themeeting was attended by Dr. B.Mandal, Pro. V.C, BCKV, Dr. Saha,Head, Soil Science Department,BCKV, Dr. A.R. Sharma, MemberAdvisory Committee, Dr. P.S. Basu, PI

of the project, Dr. Narendra Kumar andother CCPIs from all cooperatingcentres. Dr. Basu briefed about overallprogress of the project, while CCPIs ofdifferent centres presented centre-wiseprogress. The participants also visitedthe fields in order to access the realsituation of the rice fallows.

Dr. N. NadarajanRetires

Dr. NagasamyNadarajan, Director,superannuated fromICAR service onDecember 31, 2013. Hissalient contributions in

expanding the Institute’s activities byopening of two regional stations atBhopal and Dharwad are noteworthy.During his tenure, there has been aquantum jump in pulses production inthe country from 14.5 m ton to 18.5 mtons which brought glory to theInstitute. He successfully guided andexecuted several partnership projectswith international institutions such asICRISAT, ICARDA, USAID, etc.

Dr. N.P. Singh Takes overas Acting Director of IIPR

Dr. N.P. Singh, ProjectCoordinator (Chickpea) has assumedthe charge of Acting Director of IIPR,Kanpur on January 1, 2014.

Research Highlights

Dr. Dam Roy, Director, CARI inhis presidential address explainedabout the scope and importance ofpulses in vegetarian food and nutritionalsecurity. He mentioned about thestatus of area, production andproductivity of pulses in Andaman &Nicobar Islands. He also stressed uponthe importance of A&N islandbiodiversity and explained that theseislands are the store houses of anumber of land races like beachpea,mungan, ranmung, etc., which couldbe effectively utilized in future breedingprogrammes. He also stressed on theneed of a MULLaRP Centre at CARI,Port Blair for sustainable developmentand enhancement of pulse productionin this fragile agro-ecosystem. Later,the technical programmes of variousdisciplines for next season werediscussed and finalized.

Department of Science andTechnology (DST) has sanctioned aproject on "Developing Strategic andHolistic Pest Management Modules inLegume Based Cropping System and

Fast Track Young Scientist Projectits Authentication" to Dr. JeeweshKumar at this Institute with financial outlay of Rs. 18, 40,000/- for three years(2013 to 2016) under the Fast TrackYoung Scientist scheme.

ILWLS 118-1

Identification of Early FloweringGenotypes in Lentil

Thirty eight genotypes were evaluated forearliness in lentil. Among these genotypes, 6genotypes (ILWLS 118-1, IPLS 09-17, IPLS 09-22,IC560150, IPLS 09-10 and IPLS 09-34) had initiatedtheir flowering between 39 to 43 days. Early flowering(39 days) was observed in genotype ILWLS118-1which is a selection from an accession (ILWL 118)of wild species (Lens orientalis). During the pastthree years, this genotype tested at different sowingdates showed its stability in days to 50% floweringover the environments. In addition to this, comparedto other early flowering genotypes, this genotype also had high biomass. Therefore,it can be a useful donor in developing the early maturing cultivars for rice- fallowareas.

Jitendra Kumar, Divya Mahato and Rohit Kant

Pulses Newsletter : October - December, 2013 3

Folate Content in LentilFolic acid (folate)

plays an important role infoetal development andmaintenance of health.Humans are unable tosynthesize folates.Deficiency of this vitamincan cause a range ofserious diseasesincluding early embryonicbrain development, neuraltube defects (NTDs),colon cancer, and braindisorders such as depression, reducedcognition, and Alzheimer’s disease.Most staple food crops, includingcereals are poor source of dietaryfolates and diets based on these foodsoften do not fulfil the RDA for folate.Pulses are rich in folic acid content.Therefore, this study standardized areliable and reproducible methodologyfor quantification of total folate usingHPLC and analyzed the folate contentof 30 lentil (Lens culinaris L) genotypesincluding Mediterranean landraces,

breeding lines and released varieties.Folate content in these lentil genotypesvaried significantly in the range of114.38 to 479.05 µg/100g with meanvalues of 222.23 µg/100g. TheMediterranean landraces of lentil hadhigher mean folate content (246.99 µg/100g) as compared to the releasedvarieties (197.68 µg/100g).

Shweta Gupta, R.P. Srivastava,Jagdish Singh, Jitendra Kumar

and P.S. Basu

Heavy Infestation of Celosia argentea inPigeonpea at Farmers’ Fields

Heavy infestation ofCelosia argentea annualherbaceous weedcommonly known ascoxcomb belonging tofamily Amaranthaceae wasobserved in pigeonpeafields in Jalaun district ofUttar Pradesh. Itpropagates through seedswhich germinate with theonset of rains. C. argentea plants areerect and tall and bear pinkish- whiteinflorescence. Pigeonpea is commonlygrown in mixed cropping with sorghumin this district. C. argentea plantscompete with pigeonpea and wereobserved to be of the same height as

pigeonpea plants or even taller (> 1.5m). It causes significant reduction inpigeonpea grain yield (30-40%).

Narendra Kumar, Uma Sahand Hem Saxena

Management of RiceRatoon in Rice-fallow

Pulses SystemRice ratooning is a major problem

in rice fal low-pulses systems indifferent parts of country becauses itcauses fast depletion in soil moisture(15-20% higher) in comparison to no-ratoon. Since, soil moisture is a majorabiotic stress under rice fallow-pulses,its control becomes necessary toenhance pulses productivity. The resultof studies conducted at different centresunder the project on rice-fallow revealedthat use of post-emergence herbicideQuizalofop-ethyl @ 100 g/ha orapplication of Glyphosate @ 1.0 kg/habefore sowing pulse crop under zero tillmay control re-growth of rice stubblesand save soil moisture for pulse crop.

Narendra Kumar, P.K. Ghosh,K.K. Hazra, M.S. Venkatesh,

P.S. Basu and S.K. Yadav

Reference GeneEvaluation for Real

Time PCR in PigeonpeaQuantitative expression of eight

house-keeping genes viz., actin,ubiquitin, alpha and beta tubulin,nuclear helicase, elongation factor,metalloprotease and TIP4 (designed onthe basis of draft pigeonpea genomesequence) was studied in leaf samplesof pigeonpea (cv. Asha) using SYBRGreen chemistry in Real Time PCR.Copy number calculated on the basisof Ct (threshold cycle) values (18.41 -34.89) showed that expression ofactin, tubulin and ubiquitin genes wasmore stable as compared to othergenes. Three genes identified in thestudy can be used as reference forexpression studies in pigeonpea.

Deeksha Gupta, Alok Dasand Subhojit Datta

4 Indian Institute of Pulses Research

Co-Inoculation of ACC Deaminase Producing Bacteria andMesorhizobium for Chickpea Growth and Yield

ACC (1-aminocyclo-propane-1-carboxylate) deaminase producingrhizo-bacteria conferred inducedsystemic tolerance (IST) to crop plantsby reducing stress ethylene level at rootsystem and preventing inhibition of rootelongation. This further leadsto enhanced water andnutrient uptake by plant roots,especially from deeper soillayers. The interactive effectof ACC deaminase producingbacterium Isolate No. 79 andMesorhizobium ciceri CR-13on chickpea growth and yieldunder rainfed condition wasstudied at New ResearchFarm of IIPR. Co-inoculation ofbeneficial bacteria enhanced the rootbiomass and grain yield to 38.38% and

45.61%, respectively over uninoculatedcontrol. However, there was nosignificant increase in shoot biomassat initial stages (45 DAS). It indicatedthat much of the photosynthates atearly stages of growth were diverted for

the development of root biomass.Isolate No.79 enhanced chickpeanodulation by native rhizobia under

irrigated condition and insignificantdifference in nodulation was observedwhen co-inoculated withMesorhizobium. However, combinedinoculation of ACC deaminaseproducing bacterium with

Mesorhizobium enhanced thefresh nodule biomass to26.76%, and 75.98% at 45and 90 DAS, respectively overun-inoculated plants undermoisture stress. Based onthe above results Isolate No.79 is proposed to be apotential candidate toenhance chickpea growthand yield under rainfed

condition.

Senthilkumar M. and Mohan Singh

Diagnostic Kits for Legume Yellow Mosaic Viruses

Four different begomoviruses,Mungbean yellow mosaic India virus(MYMIV), Mungbean yellow mosaicvirus (MYMV), Horsegram yellowmosaic virus (HgYMV) and Dolichosyellow mosaic virus (DoYMV)collectively called as Legume yellowmosaic v iruses (LYMVs) areassociated with yellow mosaic diseasein dif ferent leguminous crops(mungbean, urdbean, cowpea,rajmash, pigeonpea, soybean,horsegram, dolichos, etc.). Symptombased identification of these viruses is

not possible. Toovercome thisproblem, two PCRbased detection kitshave beendeveloped andnamed as “LYMVsPCR Diagnostic Kit”and “LYMVs DirectPCR Kit”.

These two kits are basicallysimilar except that in LYMVs PCRDiagnostic Kit, the total DNA extractionis required (which is used as template

LYMVs Direct PCR KitLYMVs PCR Diagnostic Kit

for the amplification of target virus) fromthe infected samples, whereas inLYMVs Direct PCR Kit, the infectedsamples (leaf tissues) are used directly(as a source of template for theamplification of target virus) in PCRmixture.

Mohd. Akram, Naimuddin andA.K. Agnihotri

Pulses Newsletter : October - December, 2013 5

During kharifseason under EasternIndo-Gangetic Plain Zone,the problem of poorsurvival of plants andstunted growth are moreapparent due tointermittent f looding/waterlogging in f latplanting crops. Howeverour study showed thatappropriate landconfigurations including raised bedplanting of early pigeonpea cultivarshad significantly lower plant mortality

Land Configuration for Better Plant Stand

(6%) over flat bed planting (23%). Plantmortality and poor crop growth alsovaried with pigeonpea cultivars (UPAS

Raised bed (left) had better plant survival and vigour over flat (right)

120> Pusa 992 > ICP67B) due to theirrelatively late maturityirrespective of plantingtechniques. Therefore,use of raised bedplanters or even ridgemakers can help tomaintain optimum plantstand and realize higheryield of early seasonpigeonpea cultivars.

Ummed Singh, C.S. Praharajand Jagdish Singh

Pulses are Highly Responsive to OrganicAgriculture

Pulses have been shown highlyresponsive to organic nutrientmanagement in different cereal basedproduction systems. In general, lownutrient input and reduced availabilityof nutrients under organic nutrientmanagement often limits the plantgrowth and yield. Interestingly, theresults from the long-term experimentsindicated very strong response of pulsecrops (pigeonpea, chickpea andmungbean) upon application of organicamendments through crop residues,farm yard manure and biofertilizers(Rhiizobium, PSB) and the organicmanagement over yielded balancedapplication of inorganic fertilizers(NPKSZnB) for all above pulses. Therelative response of different pulses toorganic nutrient management wasfound in the order of chickpea(12.2%)>pigeonpea (10.9%) >mungbean (8.8%). The higher yield ofpulses in organic management plotswas mainly attributed to higher soilorganic carbon, moisture storage,

better nodulation and higher rootpenetration. Hence, pulses could bethe promising component crops fororganic farming.

K.K. Hazra, M.S. Venkatesh,P.K. Ghosh, N. kumar, C.S. Praharaj

and Jagdish Singh

Occurrence ofColletotrichum blight

on Chickpea in KarnatakaDry root rot, Fusarium wilt and

collar rot are the most destructivediseases in Karnataka which causesevere yield loss in chickpea. However,recently another fol iar disease,Colletotrichum blight caused byColletotrichum dematium appeared indestructive form at GKVK, UAS,Bangalore. It caused economic losswhen the crop was sown during Juneto early October in experimental plotsand under poly house conditions.

The symptoms of the diseaseincludes dried-up and killed plantsscattered in the field, on seedlingselongated, sunken, dark brown spotson the lower part of the stem, wiltingand drying due to severe infection. Inadult plants lesions are seen on all theabove ground parts. On stem, leavesand pods, lesions are circular toelongated and sunken at the center withyellow margins. The disease can beseen at any stage of the crop growthdepending up on the weatherconditions and can kill the plants.Infected plants and branches showed

6 Indian Institute of Pulses Research

Drs. Jagdish Singh,HoD, Basic Science andJitendra Kumar, SeniorScientist were deputed toattend the Review andPlanning Meeting of ICARDA SouthAsia and China Regional Programmeunder HarvestPlus Challenge

Programme on Lenti lBiofortification held onSeptember 23-25, 2013 atKathmandu, Nepal. Dr.Singh delivered a lecture

on "Nutritional quality traits in pulses:Potential for biofortification".

Dr. Aditya Pratap, SeniorScientist, was deputed to visit Nairobi,Kenya to attend a training course on"Application of Biometrics andBioinformatics Tools in Crop

Improvement Research" organized andsponsored by ICRISAT, Hyderabad onNovember 4-9, 2013. Hands-on trainingon crop improvement related softwaressuch as GenStat, genotypic datamanagement system, IntegratedBreeding Platform, etc. were alsoorganized during this training.

Dr. M.S. Venkatesh,Principal Scientist, wasdeputed to attendinternational training onCarbon Sequestrationduring September 23 to December 21,

Deputation Abroad

Symptoms of Colletotrichum blight on different parts

In a survey conducted inNovember, 2013 in three villages viz.,Kirpalpur, Macha and Chaitini of KanpurDehat district, severe infestation ofspotted pod borer Maruca vitrataFabricius was observed in shortduration pigeonpea. Pigeonpea leaves,flowers and pods were webbed by theM. vitrata larvae. Based on thelaboratory examination on developingpods, infestation of spotted pod borer,M. vitrata was 32% in both Kirpalpur M. vitrata infested pod

Insect Pest Incidence in Short Duration Pigeonpeaand Macha,while i t was12% in Chaitiniv i l l a g e .Interest ing lyinfestation ofHe l i c ov er paarmigera wasonly 4% inK i r p a l p u r .Besides, otherinsect pests

such as pod bugs, Clavigralla sp, andRiptortus pedestris (Fabricius),blister beetle, Mylabris pustulataThunberg, leaf folder, Grapholita criticaMeyrick blue butterfly, Lampidesboeticus Linnaeus and plume moth,Exelastis atomosa Walsingham werealso observed on short durationpigeonpea.

Sujayanand, G. K. andHem Saxena

was isolated and the sickle shapedconidia were observed undermicroscope.

Muhammad Saifulla, Manjunatha H.,Jayaramegowda, Chaithra H.R. and

Gowdra NagammaUniversity of Agricultural Sciences,

GKVK, Bangalore

PERSONNEL

2013 at Carbon Management andSequestration Center (C-MASC),School of Environment and NaturalResources (SENR), Ohio StateUniversity, Columbus, USA. Thetraining was sponsored by NationalAgricultural Innovation Project (NAIP)of Indian Council of AgriculturalResearch.

Dr. C.S.Praharaj,Principal Scientist, wasdeputed to participate andpresent a research paperat International Conferenceon Policies for Water and Food Securityin Dry Areas held on June 24-26, 2013at Cario, Egypt. The Conference wasorganized jointly by ICARDA, FAO,IFAD, IDRC, CRDI and ARC.

drying and death ofplants both at seedlingand adult stages. Thefungus penetrates thepods, infect the seedsand causes shrivelingdiscoloration of theseeds. The pathogenColletotrichum dematium

Pulses Newsletter : October - December, 2013 7

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Honour and AwardDr. Ummed Singh, Senior

Scientist was honoured with IMPHOS-FAI Award 2013, by Fertiliser Associationof India during FAI Annual Seminar 2013,

Transfers

RetirementMr. V.B. Choubey, Technical Officer, superannuated from ICAR service on

December 31, 2013.

Promotions

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held on December 11-13, 2013 at NewDelhi for his outstanding research workdone on role of phosphorus on yield andquality of crops.

Name Designation From To W.e.f. Dr. P. Nandisha Scientist IIPR,

Kanpur IIHR,

Banglore 29 October

2013 Dr. Muraleedhar S. Aski Scientist IIPR,

Kanpur IARI, New

Delhi 31 October

2013

Name Promoted to W.e.f. Mr. Shukdeo Mehto Asstt. Administrative Officer 11.12.2013 Mr. Arvind Kumar Sr. Technical Assistant 12.2.2013

8 Indian Institute of Pulses Research

Published by Dr. N. Nadarajan, Director, Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur-208 024Tel. : 0512-2570264; EPBAX Lines : 0512- 2572464, 2572465; Fax : 0512-2572582

E-mail : director@iipr.ernet.in ; n.nadarajan@gmail.com; Website; http://www.iipr.res.in

Printed at Army Printing Press, 33, Nehru Road, Sadar Cantt. Lucknow-226 002. Tel. : 0522-2481164, 6565333

Director’s DeskDear Reader,

Human dietary requirementsessentially include macronutrients suchas carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, aminoacids, for growth and body developmentand 17 micronutrients (minerals), 13vitamins and many phytochemicals whichare necessary to enhance metabolicactivities and immune system. Among 17trace elements, iron, zinc, calcium andselenium are most important. Most of theessential micronutrients in our dailyfood are present in either very lowquantity below the desired level ortotally lacking. Deficiencies of ironzinc and vitamin A are mostdebilitating. A 23% reduction invitamin A supplementation lowercognitive ability, impaired growth andreproduction. Anemia affects 2 billionpeople worldwide, iron deficiencyaffects 3.7 billion people, 58% ofpregnant women, 31% of childrenunder five in developing countries areanemic. Abnormalities caused byzinc deficiency include retardedgrowth, depressed immune function,anorexia, skeletal abnormalities,diarrhea, alopecia and dermatitis.

These micronutrient deficienciescan be addressed or eradicated throughdietary diversification, food fortification,and biofortification. Biofortification of foodcrops is development of micronutrient-dense staple crops using traditionalbreeding practices and modernbiotechnology. This approach hasmultiple advantages. First, it capitalizeson the regular daily intake of food staples.Second, after the one-time investment todevelop seeds that fortify themselves,recurrent costs are low. Third, once inplace, the biofortified crop system ishighly sustainable. Nutritionally improvedvarieties will continue to be grown andconsumed year after year. Fourth,biofortification provides a feasiblemeans of reaching undernourishedpopulations delivering naturally fortifiedfoods to people. Finally, breeding forhigher trace mineral density in seeds willnot incur a yield penalty. These tracemineral packed seeds are essential inhelping plants resist disease and other

environmental stresses and ultimatelyyields are higher.

Cereal consumption rose 112%between 1969 and 2009 and oilseedsincreased 357%, while pulseconsumption rose only 47%. It is indeedunfortunate because pulses are richerin nutrients than cereals and oilseeds.Nutritionists claim that pulses are aperfect fit for biofortification.

Biofortified pulse crops may becloser to reality than many producersrealize. That is a very simple way to makea better food product as pulses are oneof the basic food ingredients. Genomicsresearch is underway to identify thegenes responsible for high nutrient levelsin pulses to ensure future genotypes arebiofortified. The breeding programme isfocusing on five top nutrients: iron, zinc,selenium, folates and pro-vitamin Acarotenoids.

Eating pulses that are high inavailable iron would help address thenutritional deficiency. Evidences indicatethat biofortified lentils are rich in iron andzinc. Some lines of lentils contain 55 to95 ppm of available iron as compared toone ppm for polished rice, 13 ppm formilled wheat and 30 ppm for yellow corn.Lentils are rich in minerals such as Se(500–2500 g/kg), Fe (60–80 mg/kg), Zn(44–54 mg/kg), with very lowconcentration of phytic acid (6–8 mg/g)and high in ascorbic acid. More than 90%of Se in lentils is organic Se. A quarter-

cup serving of lentils (30 g by dry weight)could provide approximately 3.6 g ofprebiotic carbohydrates fructans. Inaddition to minerals and prebiotics,lentils are also rich source of betacarotene (1–5 mg/kg), bio-beneficialphenolics and numerous folates.

Mungbean provides significantamount of protein (25%) andcarbohydrate (65%)) and a range ofmicronutrients. Mungbean protein and

carbohydrate are easily digestibleand create less flatulence. In addition,mungbean is lower in phytic acid(72% of total phosphorus content)than pigeonpea, soybean andcereals which has a negative impacton iron and zinc bio-availability inplant-based diets. The wide geneticvariability of mineral concentrations(0.03-0.06 g Fe/kg and 0.02-0.04 gZn/kg) in mungbean indicatespossibilities to improve itsmicronutrient content throughbiofortification. Thereforebiofortification of existing mungbeanvarieties has great potential forenhancing the nutritional quality ofdiets.

Horse gram is another unexploitedlegume which is an excellent source ofiron and molybdenum. It is consumedas a whole seed, sprouts, or whole mealby a large population in rural areas.Biofortification for enriching zinc contentin this legume is necessary andimportant for enhancing its nutritive value.

Linking agriculture and nutrition topromote dietary change and improvenutritional status can generate wideeconomic benefits, such as increasedagricultural production and greaterhousehold security. Indian Parliamentrecently has passed a budget forBiofortification Project (DBT) whichincludes $15 million for biofortification forrice, wheat, and maize. It can beenvisaged that pulses will also beincluded for biofortification keeping inview of their high nutritional status andwide consumption among various crosssections of people.

(N. Nadarajan)