Asha Variety of Pigeonpea

About Asha Variety of Pigeonpea

• ICAR has developed India’s first fully annotated telomere-to-telomere (T2T) reference genome of pigeonpea variety ‘Asha’.
  • It is popularly known as ‘Arhar’ or ‘Tur’.
  • It is one of India’s most important pulse crops and a major source of dietary protein.
• Botanical name: Its botanical name is Cajanus cajan L. Millsp. 
• Developments: In 2011, ICAR–National Institute for Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi, had published the world’s first draft genome of pigeonpea variety ‘Asha’, the first crop genome to be sequenced entirely in India.
  • An improved draft genome was published in 2017.
• Features:
  • The newly developed T2T genome sequence contains 752.65 million base pairs of DNA assembled into 92 contigs, providing a complete representation of all 11 chromosomes of pigeonpea.
  • A comprehensive genome annotation identified 36,557 genes, producing 48,008 mRNAs (coding sequences).
• Benefits:
  • It will serve as a valuable national genomic resource for advanced gene and pangenome analyses, discovery of genes associated with important agronomic and nutritional traits, and the application of molecular breeding and genome-editing technologies.
  • It is also expected to accelerate the breeding of climate-resilient, high-yielding and nutritionally enriched pigeonpea varieties, thereby strengthening the country’s pulse improvement programme.
  • It will also provide a major impetus to research and innovation, benefit scientists, breeders and farmers, and contribute to enhanced productivity, improved farmer livelihoods, and India’s food and nutritional security.