Germplasm Field day for Biotic Stress Assessment in Blackgram and Cowpea held at ICAR-NBPGR Regional Station, Hyderabad

ICAR-NBPGR Regional Station, Hyderabad organised a germplasm field day (Biotic stress Assessment in blackgram and cowpea) on 16th April, 2022. More than 40 researchers from 11 organisations participated in the event [ICAR-NBPGR, New Delhi-2; ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad-4; ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, RS, Dharwad-2; Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Hyderabad-11; Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University, Lam, Guntur-1 and RARS, Tirupathi-1; Dr YSR Horticultural University, HRS, Pandirimamidi-1; Dr Sri Konda Laxman Telangana State Horticultural University-1; Agri-Biotech Foundation, Hyderabad-3; International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics-2; World Vegetable Centre -3 and ICAR-NBPGR, Hyderabad-8].
At the outset, Dr Anitha Kodaru, Principal Scientist & Officer-in-Charge welcomed the Chair Person, Dr Kuldeep Singh, former Director, ICAR-NBPGR & Gene Bank Head, ICRISAT, Dr V Celia Chalam, Head, Division of Plant Quarantine, NBPGR, New Delhi, Dr R Jagadeeshwar, Director of Research, Prof Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University and all other participating scientists from various organizations and presented an overview of the blackgram and cowpea evaluation programme for biotic stresses. A total of 294 accessions of blackgram consisting of core collections, promising accessions, new accessions and check varieties and 383 accessions of cowpea core set showcased for biotic stress assessment in the field. Biotic stress assessment is being carried out for yellow mosaic disease (YMD) in blackgram and YMD, wilt and aphids in cowpea, respectively.
Dr Kuldeep Singh, former Director, chaired the programme. In his address, he stressed the need to study the genetics of resistance, marker assisted selection, gene pyramiding, abiotic stress assessment, yield potential studies, intercropping potentials, agro-inoculation techniques, Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) etc in cowpea and blackgram. Dr V Celia Chalam, Head, Division of Plant Quarantine, ICAR-NBPGR in her remarks mentioned about molecular diagnostics of MYMV and the importance of studying the phylogenic analysis of different strains of viruses and quarantine processing of the exotic germplasm accessions against seed borne viruses. Dr R. Jagadeeshwar, Director of Research, PJTSAU, Hyderabad-Guest of honour, stressed the need for crop diversification in Telangana. The Director of Seeds, PJTSAU mentioned that sucking pest complex in cowpea and blackgram and vectors need to be given importance. The introductory session was followed by a field visit to blackgram and cowpea experimental plots at the station. Drs B. Parameswari, B.Bhaskar, Prasanna Holajjer, Ms.E.Swathi, Ms. D. Divya and Ms. V. Bindu Pratyusha acted as facilitators for blackgram field & Drs. Kuldeep Tripathi, B. Parameswari, L. Saravanan, S. Nivedhitha, P. Pranusha and Ms. K. Selvi conducted the tour to cowpea experimental plot, respectively.
After the field visit, a feedback and wrap-up session was held under the chairmanship of Dr Kuldeep Singh. Dr Kuldeep Tripathi, Scientist, ICAR-NBPGR, New Delhi gave a brief account on the development of cowpea core set from the the collections available with the National Gene Bank. He also expressed the need for evaluating the core collections under water logging conditions as the crop is highly vulnerable to waterlogging. All the participants expressed their satisfactory remarks on both the fields and mentioned that the expression of cowpea genotypes is very good. Most of the participants were looking for early to medium duration types and determinate types in cowpea. They also expressed that there is need for the accessions that can withstand high temperatures, water logging, and other abiotic stresses. Other participants also expressed that the passport data of these core sets to be made available for selecting the germplasm displayed in the field. Majority of them expressed that the expression of YMD resistance is very good in blackgram plot as compared to the cowpea plot. Dr Bentur, Consultant Scientist, Agri Biotic Foundation stressed the timely release of budget under the project. The programme ended with a vote of thanks proposed by Dr. N. Sivaraj, Principal Scientist who acknowledged all the participants and staff who contributed in making the germplasm field day a great success.