Cross compatibility between chickpea and its wild relative, Cicer echinospermum Davis

Cicer echinospermum, a wild relative of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), has traits that can be used to improve the cultivated species. It is possible to obtain successful crosses between the two species, even though their cross progenies have reduced fertility. The reasons for this low fertility could be due to the two species differing in small chromosome segments or at genic level. Another limitation to the use of C. echinospermum at ICRISAT Asia Center is that the species is not adapted to the short photoperiod which prevails during the chickpea cropping season at Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India. Future work will include screening the segregating progenies for monitoring traits from both the species through isozyme analysis and to incorporate these into good agronomic backgrounds following backcrosses.