Advanced Breeding Approaches for Cold-Tolerant Chickpea and Lentil in Dryland Areas

Abstract

Chickpea and lentils are the two most economically important food legumes in dryland areas. They are traditionally sown in the spring of cold dryland areas of the Mediterranean regions. Therefore, the grain yield of the crop is affected by drought and high thermal stresses at the end of the season. Autumn cultivation of these crops by cold-tolerant varieties could increase grain yield up to 50%, then spring cultivation through higher availability of soil water. Breeding for cold-tolerant chickpea and lentil that is widely adaptable to autumn cultivation in cold regions and various growth conditions is the best strategic approach but requires a fine-tuned combination of advanced phenotyping and genotyping methods. However, breeding and selection of suitable cold-tolerant chickpea and lentil genotypes is complex by its narrow genetic base, which limits the sources of novel alleles. This chapter illustrates the morphological, physiological, and molecular effects of cold stress on chickpea and lentil growth and development. It will be also elaborated on conventional and advanced breeding approaches and application of advanced genotyping and phenotyping tools commonly used to develop cold-tolerant chickpea and lentil cultivars. The following, about key crop cold-tolerance traits that can be easily screened by using genotypic and phenotypic technologies are discussed.