Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a versatile, climate-resilient, and salt-tolerant pulse crop that will become an excellent new winter cash crop for southeastern organic producers. Pulses provide soil health and nitrogen benefits to cropping systems and are a significant source of plant-based protein. Chickpeas can grow as a winter cash crop in the Southeast, from upstate to the coast, replacing acreage left fallow or planted with cover crops. Cultivars bred for conventional production are often unsuitable for organic production, and organically grown pulse crops have lower protein, making organic pulse proteins more expensive. Increasing crop production costs and decreasing commodity prices mean organic growers are exploring new crop options. Our long-term goal is to develop short-season chickpea cultivars for organic production with higher protein quality and superior milling properties, sensory qualities, and adaptability to organic rice/vegetable systems. This project is built on OREI, Good Food Institute (GFI), and SC Department of Agriculture-funded projects to establish a breeding pipeline for the public release of protein-biofortified organic chickpea cultivars for southeastern states. Project objectives are to (1) develop protein-enriched organic chickpea varieties using on-farm field trails (participatory breeding), (2) combine genomic information and trait discovery to enable the best genotype-to-phenotype mapping, and (3) develop on-farm educational and extension activities using the "Going Organic" platform. This project is aligned with the OREI goals to (1) develop and improve organic agriculture production, breeding, and processing methods; (2) determine desirable traits; (3) on-farm research; and (4) develop new and improved seed varieties for organic agriculture.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
50%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
Long-term goal: To develop biofortified winter chickpea cultivars suitable for organic adaptation with high protein quality, good digestibility, improved flavor, and acceptable milling quality.Key objectives:Develop an organic breeding pipeline for chickpea varieties using on-farm field selection and participatory breeding to: (i) increase agronomic adaptation toward sustainable organic farming systems, (ii) improve nutritional quality (protein, SAA) balance, protein digestibility, starch, RS, flavor, and milling quality), and (iii) initiate an Accelerated Seed Delivery System (ASDS) with regional industry and state partners.Develop a genomic prediction pipeline for combining genomic information and trait mapping to enable the best genotype-to-phenotype mapping for trait discovery.Develop on-farm educational and extension activities using the Clemson University (CU) "Going Organic" platform, industry partners, eOrganic resources, consumers, and classroom courses for graduate and undergraduate students.
Project Methods
On-farm field design and selection: In years 1 and 2, the ~50 chickpea cultivars and advanced breeding lines will be planted in a complete α-lattice field design with commercial checks with three replicates at three on-farm locations in SC (n=450). Each incomplete block will be augmented with Sierra (check cultivar) at random positions to reduce spatial variability. These cultivars will also be blocked based on days to maturity to avoid known phenological variation. Before sowing, soil samples will be randomly taken at 0-15 cm depth to track soil N and other nutrient levels. Cultivars will be sown in 1.2 m × 6 m plots at a rate of 60-70 seeds/m2 and a seeding depth of 5-7 cm. Each plot will contain four rows spaced 30 cm apart. On-farm growers will participate in participatory selections. We will invite interested growers to the field and record their responses related to cultivar performance, suitability to their farms, and seed quality, and then will rank these cultivars based on their preference for inclusion in the breeding program.FT-MIR phenome platform: Single seeds will be analyzed for protein, SAA, RS, total starch, fats, and moisture content using FT-MIRBreeding Pipline: The breeding pipeline includes agronomic and nutritional trait discovery, population improvement, product development, introgression effects, seed commercialization, and dissemination. A market segment analysis for biofortified chickpeas will focus on the product traits valued by farmers and consumers . The breeding scheme consists of crossing, evaluation, and selection (CES) tasks and decisions for each trait across breeding stages.Genomic pipeline: We will generate and utilize genomic resources in four stages: 1) developing reproducible computational workflows that enable robust quality control of genomic and phenomic data; 2) applying GWAS to identify large-effect, environment-specific, and pleiotropic loci in chickpea diversity panel; 3) utilizing knowledge of associated loci, comparative genomics, and genomic prediction (GP) to identify high-potential crosses for elite breeding populations; and 4) uploading of phenomic and genomic data to Breedbase as a community resource.