Designing Pigeonpea Genome for a Future-Ready Crop

Abhishek Bohra is currently working as Senior Scientist at ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research (IIPR), Kanpur, India. He has served as Principal Investigator for national hybrid breeding program for nearly a decade period. He has contributed towards the development of various pigeonpea hybrids and varieties. He has made contributions to develop new germplasm for pollen sterility trait for application in hybrid development and identification of promising genetic stocks that serve as donors for enhancing key breeding traits. Considering genomics- assisted breeding approach, he is associated with projects on developing novel experimental populations, identifying important genes/DNA markers associated with economically important traits and marker-assisted selection. His research work has resulted in publication of more than 150 research papers in journals of international repute. He is contributing to the scientific community and society by serving as Editor (Functional and Integrative Genomics, PLoS One, Crop Science, Heliyon, Plant Breeding, Functional Plant Biology and Plant Methods) and Reviewer to various international journals. He has a h-index of 44, with cumulative citation of over 7500. He is a recipient of Young Scientist medal of Indian National Science Academy (INSA), India and Associate Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), India.Ashok Kumar Parihar has obtained his Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. He is currently working as Senior Scientist in the Crop Improvement Division of ICAR- Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur and also associated as Principal Investigator of plant breeding program in All India Coordinated Research Project on Rabi Pulses. During his research career of more than 14 years, he has developed twelve high yielding multiple disease resistance field pea varieties suitable for different agro-climatic conditions. He has so far published more than 75 research papers in different national and international journals. He has also published 6 books, 35 book chapters, >100 popular articles and 10 technical bulletins. He has been honored with many prestigious awards including Associate of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), India and Fellow of Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding (ISGPB), India & Indian Society of Pulse Research and Development (ISPRD), India.Girish Prasad Dixit is an eminent agricultural scientist with over 30 years of experience in pulses research and development. He received Ph.D. in 1993 from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He is current serving as Director at ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research (IIPR), Kanpur, India. He has led Indian national chickpea programme as Project Coordinator for about eight years focusing on integrated breeding approaches for improving yield potential, improved tolerance to stresses, market-preferred grain traits, suitability to machine harvesting and modernization of programs through digitalization. He has led several international and national projects. He has developed 25 high yielding varieties of pulses. He has published more than 100 research papers and 25 book chapters, and edited five books.

• 1. Improving Pigeonpea for Climate Resilience: An African Perspective 2. Harnessing the Potential of Pigeonpea Wild Relatives for Climate-Change Resilience 3. Applications and Challenges of Mutation Breeding for Creating Climate-Resilient Pigeonpea 4. Pigeonpea Hybrids for Enhanced Resilience and Productivity 5. Understanding Trait Architectures to Accelerate Pigeonpea (Cajanus Cajan) Improvement : Insights from Breeding and Multi-omics 6. Application and Prospects of Modern Genomics to Deliver Climate-Smart Pigeonpea 7. Enhancing Abiotic Stress Response in Pigeonpea: A Phenomics Perspective 8. Pigeonpea Pest Dynamics in a Changing Climate Scenario 9. Multi-omics Approaches to Understand Biotic Stress Response in Pigeonpea 10. Harnessing Speed Breeding for Pigeonpea Improvement 11. Gene Editing for Improving Biotic Stress Resistance in Pigeonpea 12. Gene-Editing in Pigeonpea for Abiotic Stress Tolerance