EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF IN VITRO TISSUE CULTURE IN BREEDING PROGRAMS OF LEGUME AND PULSE CROPS: UTILIZATION AND PRESENT CONDITION

Abstract

Legumes are an important family of flowering plants, comprising more than 13,000 species and 600 genera. The term "pulses" refers to dried seed crops cultivated for food, rather than oil extraction. Lentils, chickpeas, cowpeas, mung beans, black grams, and pigeon peas are examples of such pulses, as they are highly nutritious and widely consumed by humans. Also, they can fix nitrogen in the soil with the help of bacteria that live in harmony with them. This makes crop cycles less dependent on chemical fertilizers. Before new genotypes were used, the traditional ways of raising pulses took a long time and were hard to do. So, alternatives based on biotechnology can be helpful in this area. Researchers are investigating the efficacy of tissue culture, regeneration techniques, gene transfer, and transformation methods in pulse crops. The aim is to determine how these approaches can be utilized to improve the production and quality of pulse crops. Also discussed are anther, microspore, embryo, and ovary growth and their possible uses in pulses. The study concludes that in vitro tissue culture is a useful tool for breeding programs of leguminous pulses. It can help make better legume crop varieties, leading to higher yields and better quality.