Wild Cicer Species and Chickpea Improvement.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the important food legumes grown during the cool season. Although a good level of research has been done for improvement of this crop, but major break-through in productivity has not yet been achieved so far. The main reason seems to be the presence of little genetic variability in the cultigen followed by susceptibility of the cultigen to a number of biotic and abiotic stresses. Studies conducted on wild annual Cicer species at ICARDA has revealed that some of these species possess tolerance or resistance to some biotic or abiotic stresses which the cultigen lacks. Further the hybridization between the wild annual Cicer species and the cultigen at ICARDA revealed that the cultigen is only crossable with C. reticulatum and C. echinospermum.  We have used these species for successful introgression of desirable traits like cyst nematode resistance, cold tolerance, high biomass, and early flowering etc. from the wild to the cultigen, and shared these improved lines to different national programs through our international testing network. In this paper we summarize the results of research done at ICARDA for widening the genetic base of chickpea, and discuss future possibilities of exploiting wild Cicer species using innovative techniques.