Evaluation of germplasm for phenological variation

Development of extra-early varieties of chickpea and lentil offers opportunities for intensification and diversification of existing cropping systems. Some of the opportunities are legumes into new niches such as rice fallows in South Asia, two crops per season in Ethiopia, and spring planted legume crop in West Asia and North Africa. To achieve this goal, appropriate changes in phenology and plant type that can fit within the short-season windows available between major cereal crops are required. Under the Product Line 6, research activities were undertaken to develop improved varieties through trait discovery and deployment in appropriate agronomic background, and their large-scale adoption through demonstrations, training and farmers’ participatory seed system.