Page 394 - AWSAR 2.0

370 || AWSAR Awarded Popular Science Stories - 2019
and Biological Sciences Research Council, UK, have jointly funded an international collaborative research project entitled ‘India- UK Nitrogen Fixation Centre (IUNFC)’. The project brought together under one umbrella a global team of eminent scientists from India and the UK with expertise and experience in plant sciences, soil microbiology and agriculture. The project aims to improve the nutrition and productivity of pigeon pea through cutting-edge scientific research on biological nitrogen fixation, leading to the selection of superior plants and microorganisms for specific environments ranging from the fertile soils of the Indo-Gangetic plains to the drought-stressed soils of the Deccan plateau. Deploying effective combinations of pigeon pea and rhizobia would aid in boosting pigeon pea production, enhance seed protein content, reduce dependence on nitrogenous fertilizers and improve soil health.
Ongoing research on
pigeon pea at the University
of Hyderabad: The author’s
team at the Department of
Plant Sciences, University
of Hyderabad, a partner in
the IUNFC project under the
guidance of Professor Appa
Rao Podile, a renowned plant microbiologist, is currently
engaged in identifying the
most suitable combinations
of pigeon pea varieties and
specific rhizobia that can
improve nodule formation,
biological nitrogen fixation,
growth and yield of the crop
in the drought-stressed soils of South India. Extensive soil sampling from pigeon pea fields was done across the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka for the large- scale screening and isolation of rhizobia. Parallelly, several pigeon pea varieties were
screened for identifying optimal plant lines, among which the varieties Mannem Konda Kandi (ICPH-2740), Asha (ICPL-87119) and Durga (ICPL-84031) were found to be the most suitable for cultivation under the agroclimatic conditions of South India. Rhizobia isolated from pigeon pea nodules were characterized based on their molecular features and efficiency to form nodules. Different species of rhizobia were found to be associated with pigeon pea nodules. Presently, field trials are going on across three different locations in India with selected rhizobial isolates to assess production yield increment.
An interesting finding from the study was that pigeon pea root nodules harboured not only rhizobia but several other microorganisms as well. Many of these microorganisms can promote plant growth and development in one or more ways and are thus called ‘plant growth- promoting microorganisms’. However, their
involvement in nodule formation and biological nitrogen fixation remains mostly unknown. To address this issue, the author’s team has undertaken a parallel investigation on deciphering the structure and function of the microbial community associated with pigeon pea roots. The study aims to understand how the root-associated microbial communities or ‘root microbiome’ aid in promoting growth, yield and productivity of the crop and combat diverse stress conditions. Simultaneously, how soil type
and plant variety influence the composition of the root-associated microbiome of pigeon pea is also being investigated. Deciphering the pigeon pea root microbiome will help to identify plant-associated microbes that should be prioritized for further research. A
India is the largest producer of pigeon pea, accounting for about 82% of the global production. Even though India is the largest producer, it is the world’s largest importer of pigeon pea as the national productivity, that is the yield per unit cultivated area of pigeon pea is at a low level.