CT-3 Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan), IIPG

Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan), an important food

• legume crop in the semi-arid regions of the world and the second most important pulse crop in India, has an average crop productivity of 780 kg/ha.
•  The relatively low crop yields may be attributed to non-availability of improved cultivars, poor crop husbandry and exposure to a number of biotic and abiotic stresses in pigeonpea growing regions.
• Narrow genetic diversity in cultivated germplasm has further hampered the effective utilization of conventional breeding as well as development and utilization of genomic tools, resulting in pigeonpea being often referred to as an 'orphan crop legume'.

To enable genomics-assisted breeding in this crop,

• the Pigeonpea Genomics Initiative (PGI) was initiated in late 2006 with funding from Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), HYDERABAD ,  Government of India under the umbrella of Indo-US agricultural knowledge initiative, which was further expanded with financial support from the US National Science Foundation's Plant Genome Research Program and the Generation Challenge Program. As a result of the PGI, significant amount of genetic as well as genomic resources have been developed in pigeonpea through effective collaborations and coordination of genomics activities across several institutes and countries.

International Initiative for Pigeonpea Genomics (IIPG) is an effort linked with Pigeonpea Genomics Initiative to make the data available to the global community.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (ICRISAT) is a non-profit organization in India.


It was founded in 1972 by a consortium of organizations convened by the Ford and the Rockefeller Foundations.

• Its charter was signed by the FAO and the UNDP.
• Since its inception, India, the host country, has granted a special status to ICRISAT as a UN Organization operating in the Indian territory making it eligible for special immunities and tax privileges.

ICRISAT is managed by a full time Director General functioning under the overall guidance of an international Governing Board. The current Director General is William Dar (Philippines). The current chair of the Board is Nigel Poole (UK).