Keynote Presentation 03 by Mahmoud Solh at the International Conference on Pulses in Marrakesh, Morocco, 18-20 April 2016

1. International Conference on Pulses
For Health, Nutrition and Sustainable Agriculture in Dry Areas
Marrakech, Morocco, 18 - 20 April, 2016
Pulses in Dry Areas:
Importance, Challenges and Potential
Mahmoud El Solh
Director General
ICARDA

2. Outline
 Importance of Pulses;
 Status of Pulses Production and
Consumption;
 Challenges facing pulses production
in dry areas;
 What science can do to address
these challenges;
 Large scale impact of research
investment;
 Conclusion.

3. Importance of Pulse Crops

4. 3
Great Challenges of Agriculture
• Growing world population
will cause a “serious storm"
of food, energy and water
shortages by 2050
• Demand for food and energy
will jump 70% and 100% and
for fresh water by 30%, as
the population tops 9 billion
• In the past, only ~12 crops
received the major attention
of scientific interventions
The Big Challenge: How to expand agriculture output without further
constraining natural resources?

5. 4
Hungry & undernourished people remains a global concern
• About 1 billion people globally
remain hungry every day.
Many Asian countries
including India is among the
countries with 20-34%
populations undernourished
and categorized as
‘Alarming’ in the Global
Health Index (GHI)
525 million in Asia
undernourished

6. 5
Why Pulses?

7. 6
Pulses offer many nutritional benefits
 Pulses are three times richer in low
fat protein as compared to cereals
including rice and wheat;
 Pulses have complementary Amino
acid profile with cereals;
 Micro-nutrient rich grains (Fe, Zn);
 Good carbohydrates make pulses a
great functional food;
 High in dietry fibre.

8. The Balanced Diet: Cereals with Pulses
The complementarities of cereals & pulses in nutritional value
Food Legumes: High in protein and Lysine, low in sulfur-containing
amino acids:
Protein percentage
Faba bean 20 – 36 %
Lentil 20 – 27 %
Grass pea 25 – 31 %
Kabuli Chickpea 16 – 24 %
Field Pea 20 - 23 %
Cereals/Wheat: low in both protein and lysine but high in sulfur-
containing amino acids
Combiningfood legumes andcerealsprovidesabalanceddiet:
improving nutrition,especiallyinlow-incomecommunities
whereothersourcesofproteinlikeanimalproteinarelimited.

9. 8
Pulses - A potential whole food solution
Source; Pallemulle, Thavarajah, Thavarajah et al. unpublished data, 2013
Nutrient Lentil Field pea Chickpea Rice
Protein (%) 20 –27a 20 -23d 19-20 2.9
Se (µg kg-1) 425 –672a 373-519d 450-850 93
Fe (mg kg-1) 73 –90b 44-55 50-55 2.4
Zn (mg kg-1) 44 –54b 20-30 20-32 3.7
Phytic acid (mg g-1) 1.8 -4.4c 2.2 –8.2 4.9 –6.1 7.2-11.9
50g of pulses is a good source of Fe, Zn, and Se
Effect of lentil diet on anemic Sri Lankan Children after 60 Days
3 -7

10. 9
Bio-fortified pulses – a panacea for hidden hunger
0
20
40
60
80
100
BARI M4 BARI M5 BARI M6 BARI M7
Fe and Zn contents of lentil varieties
released in Bangladesh
Fe content (ppm) Zn content (ppm)
In Bangladesh, bio-fortified lentils
developed by NARS and ICARDA are
now grown in 145,600 ha, producing
186,000 tons for domestic consumption

11. 10
Enhancing Soil Productivity & Health
through Biological Nitrogen Fixation0612182430364248
-0.96
-0.84
-0.72
-0.6
-0.48
-0.36
-0.24
-0.12
Similarity
FLIP07-273C
ILC263
FLIP07-282C
FLIP07-33C
FLIP08-79C
FLIP06-37C
FLIP07-258C
FLIP07-3C
LM162
FLIP07-6C
FLIP07-240C
LM164
FLIP08-92C
ILC3284
ILC533
ILC3397
FLIP08-177C
FLIP07-127C
FLIP07-14C
FLIP07-280C
FLIP08-99C
FLIP08-98C
FLIP06-151C
ILC482
FLIP05-156C
FLIP07-252C
FLIP07-262C
FLIP08-105C
FLIP07-306C
FLIP08-223C
FLIP07-255C
FLIP07-269C
FLIP07-38C
FLIP08-193C
FLIP08-154C
FLIP08-251C
FLIP07-308C
FLIP07-340C
FLIP07-322C
FLIP07-332C
FLIP08-23C
LM140
LM149
FLIP06-166C
FLIP07-182C
ILC3279
FLIP07-217C
FLIP07-268C
FLIP07-254C
FLIP07-44C
 Chickpea and Faba bean
genotypes screened
 Super nodulating lines
identified (Egypt)
 TILLING population of FB
developed
 Stress tolerant Rhizobium
strains identified
 Host-Rhizobium-
Environments interaction
studied
 Enhancement of soil
productivity and soil health.

12. Regional differences in the reliance of agriculture on legume
fixed N or fertilizer N for food production
Region Source & estimated annual N input
Million ton N/year
Asia & middle east 19 47
Europe 3 14
North America 8 14
Africa 3 5
South America 10 6
Oceania (Australia & NZ) 4 1
Total Global 47 87
value ≈>US$50 billion
Source: Herridge et al (2008) Plant & Soil 311:1-18
Peoples et al (2009) Nitrogen Fixation in Crop Production: Agronomy Monograph 52, pp.349-385

13. 1 : 1 line
Includes 20 data
points from
Lars Ohlander, SLU
Sweden
Source: Angus et al (2008) Australian Agronomy Conf, Adelaide , Australia.
www.regional.org.au/au/asa/2008/concurrent/rotations/5786_angusjf.htm
Indirect contributions of legumes to food production
Rotational benefits for following cereal crops

14. 13
Pulses
Eggs
Chicken
Pork
Beef
Water efficiency in food production
(measured in galleons per ton)
Daal (1kg)
1250 liters
Chicken (1kg)
4325 liters
Mutton (1kg)
5520 liters
Beef (1kg)
13000 liters
• 70-210 kg/ha N Fixed
• 40-70 kg/ha N benefit
• Phosphorus availability
• Negative carbon food print
Water efficiency
Soil Health
Water Efficiency and Nitrogen fixation

15. 14
Low carbon footprint with pulses based systems
Source: Gan et al., 2014
• The negative carbon footprints indicate
that the production of a system sequesters
more CO2 from the atmosphere than is
emitted (a net sink of CO2).
FFLxW FWW ContW LentilW
Per ha -62 -218 -243 -552
Per kg -0.027 -0.164 -0.151 -0.377
-600
-500
-400
-300
-200
-100
0• 70-210 kg/ha
N Fixed
• 40-70 kg/ha N
benefit
• Phosphorus
availability

16. 15
Pulses offer scope for diversification of cereal-based systems
Early varieties
Diversification
Expansion in
rice fallow
Spring planting
• Intensification & diversification of Cereal-
based Cropping System by inclusion of
pulses as catch crop
• Introduction in Rice-fallows in South Asia
• New niches such as winter planting
• Market opportunities for more rural
income
Market
opportuniti
es

17. 16
Market evolution of cereals and pulses
Pulses are becoming cash crops due to the high demand
16

18. 17
Steep rise in food prices in India over 30 years
Pulses are becoming cash crops in India

19. Challenges Facing Enhancing Pulses
Productivity and Production

20. 19
Challenges to Pulse Productivity & Production
 Mostly grown under rainfed marginal
conditions: considered as secondary
crops;
 Instability in yield: prone to a range of
biotic and abiotic stresses;
 Changing climate: emerging new
stresses;
 Low yield potential: limited use of wide
range of genetic diversity and desirable
genes;
 Use of less inputs by farmers;
 Inappropriate supportive policies
favouring cereals production at the
expense of pulses;
 Limited access to quality seed of
improved varieties
 Low investment in pulses R & D

21. 20
Production constraints in chickpea as an Example
 Biotic stress
– Ascochyta Blight
– Fusarioum wilt
– Rust
– Botrytis Grey Mould
– Leaf miners:
– Leaf caterpillar
– Pod borers
– cyst nematode
 Abiotic stress
– Drought
– Heat
– Cold
– Salinity
– Waterlogging
– Nutrient Deficiency and
Toxicity

22. 21
Constraints in other Food Legumes: Lentil & Faba Bean
Stemphylium blight
Rust Diseases
Root diseases
Drought and heat
Weeds
• Biotic stresses
• Abiotic stresses
• Problem soils
• Socio-economic problems
• Government policies
Botrytis fabae
Orabance in Faba bean

23. What Science can do to Explore the Potential of Pulses
to Enhance their Productivity and Yield Stability

24. 23
Strategy for Enhancing Pulses Production
• Crop genetic improvement &
new genetic gains for
improved varieties;
• Vertical increase in productivity
through sustainable
intensification of production
systems;
• Closing the yield gaps
• Horizontal expansion
• Reduced post-harvest losses
• 25-60% yield gaps in pulses
• Reasons are many…….
• Closing the yield gaps can alone supply 60% of pulses deficit
• Farmers participatory research

25. 24
Genetic gains : Traits in Focus
 Heat and drought tolerance
 Resistances to diseases
 Resistance to insect pests
 Orobanche tolerance
 Enhancing biological nitrogen
fixation
 Extra short duration
 Herbicide tolerance
 Machine harvesting
 Water use efficiency
 Fertilizer use efficiency
 Improved plant architecture
Cross
Segregating
Populations
Genotype Phenotype
QTLs
Gene
Discovery
New
Variety

26. Collec
t
Mission: Conserv
e
Characteriz
e
Evaluate Documen
t
Distribute
Taxon/Crops No. of
Accessions
Food Legumes 35,867
Wild Relatives of
Food Legumes
1,149
Forage Legumes 31,856
Range/pasture
species
7,013
Total 75,885
Make-up of the ICARDA legumes collection
Legumes Genetic Resources at ICARDA

27. Link environmental
data to collection sites
Adapted from D T F Endresen (NGB)
Choose accessions from
environments where selection
pressure exists for adaptive traits
to stress e.g. drought, heat,
salinity.
For diseases and pests, select
material from environments that
favor high pest populations
Focused Identification of Germplasm Strategy (FIGS)
Application: Focusing on the ‘Best Bet’ Accessions

28. 27
Genetic stocks for desirable traits developed by FIGS
 Development of FIGS subsets
- 10 FIGS subsets for chickpea
- 4 FIGS subsets for lentil
Biotic and abiotic stresses…
- Botrytis grey
mold
- Ascochyta blight
- Fusarium
- Leaf minor
- Pod borer
‒ Salinity
tolerance
‒ Heat tolerance
‒ Cold tolerance
‒ Drought
‒ Virus
1908 accessions of chickpea and 400
accessions of lentil shared as FIGS to
institutes all over the world

29. 28
Forty out of 160 crosses in 2015 have been conducted in ICARDA-Terbol
station assigned for pre-breeding research. The traits included earliness,
large seed, AB, FW, cold, heat and drought tolerance.
Conventional Breeding: Chickpea crossing block in 2015

30.  Genomics
 Marker Assisted Selection
 Double Haploids
 Embryo Rescue
 Tissue Culture
 DNA Fingerprinting
 Genetic Engineering
Biotechnology Tools

31. 30
Genomic tools in chickpea breeding
Sub-set/reference-set
(gene banks)
RILs
TILLING (Mutants)
MAGIC/NAM
Training population
Association mapping
Bi-parental/Mapping+QTL
Reverse genetics approach
Multi parent/association mapping
Genomic selection
Genotyping
(SSR, GBS, SNP, DArT…etc)
Phenotyping
(Different field environments, environmental control, high-
throughput score, precision, experimental design, data analysis…etc)
Marker
Assisted
Selection
(MAS)
New
released
varieties
Seven subsets (each/170-200 genotypes) for drought, salinity, cold, AB, FW, viruses and BGM
More than 20 RILs have been developed for drought, salinity, cold, AB, FW…etc.
Kabuli (Ghab5-1237 lines) have been developed and advanced to M5.
Disi (1700 lines) have been advanced
F5 MAGIC population have been developed from 12 parents
NAM: is under development
Not yet applied in chickpea
Genetic resource

32. 31
Precision Phenotyping
FW and salinity screening in hydroponics Wilt sick plots for Fusarium wilt
Orobanche screeningAscochyta Blight screening
Drought and heat screening
Cold screening

33. 32
Novel Techniques for Phenotyping
Screening for Fusarium wilt resistance

34. 33
Source of variation d.f. SS MS F
Genotype 137.00 210.88 1.54 1.86***
Location 1.00 1.04 1.04 1.26
Genotype X
Location 137.00 150.46 1.10 1.33
Error 275.00 227.41 0.83
Total 551.00 609.38
• genotypes were screened in the field (Arish Egypt) and
(hydroponic)
• Alpha lattice design ( two replications)
• 100 mM NaCl was used in hydroponic method
• No significant difference have been observed between
the tow methods
• Significant differences have been identified between
the genotypes.
• Based on the average from the two locations, seven
tolerant genotypes have been identified as the most
tolerant genotypes from both experiments
CV% = 7.8; LSD = 1.27
100 mM NaCl treatment Control
Screening for salinity tolerance in chickpea under field condition
and hydroponic system

35. 34
Germplasm evaluated during 2014-15
620 lentil accessions
365 chickpea accessions
Fusarium wilt
Ascochyta Blight
screening
Chickpea Trait Genotypes
Ascochyta blight 700 (Germplasm)
300 (segregating)
Nitrogen fixation 100
Herbicides tol. 100
Fusarium wilt 300 (Germplasm)
200 (segregating)
Heat tolerance 100
Plant traits
Lentil Trait Lines
Herbicide tolerance 500
Orobanche tolerance 250
Heat tolerance 200
Machine harvest 250
Rust resistance 120

36. Identify traits and associated molecular markers for drought tolerance
Drought Resistance Score (DRS):
Estimated by using a rating scale ranging from 1
(plants with 95–100 % pod setting) to 9 (plants did not
set any pods and died).
Phenology traits:
1. plant height (PLHT),
2. days to flowering (DFLR),
3. days to maturity (MAT)
Yield-related traits:
1. grain yield (GY),
2. biological yield (BY),
3. Harvest index (HI),
4. number of pods/3 plants (Pod),
5. Percentage of empty pods (%Epod),
6. 100 seed weight (100 sw),
7. seed number/3 plants (SN).
Developing short-duration cultivars that escape terminal drought and heat stress
Drought Tolerance

37. LG4LG3
TA-34
H5H-032
TS-19
H3F-08
STMS-10
STMS-21
H1F-14
TR-31
H3H-04
GA-119
H1E-06
H4G-07
H6C-07
H1P-092
H1B-04
20.4
20.4
24.0
13.3
4.4
7.9
12.1
19.1
20.6
26.0
3.5
0.7
0.6
14.6
2
A B Scy17
H1B-17
TA-72
NCPGR-74
H3D-09
H5G-01
H1G-20
TA-146
SCEA19
H1A-12
TS-104
H4G-11
H5H-02
H1H-15
TR-20
10.3
17.4
13.2
14.7
12.2
6.9
7.0
7.8
15.9
17.1
5.3
1.4
2.0
11.2
1
A
B
YP
YP
YP
SN
SN
SN
SN
POD
POD
POD
SW
SW
PB
PB
PLHT
PLHT
HI
HI
HTSMAT
EPOD
EPOD
BY
BY
FDFLR
DFLR
DFLR
FLRD
GFIL
D
GFILD
GFILD
GFILD
HTS
Pleiotropic QTLs on LG3 and LG4 were identified as associated with several
traits including two conferring heat & drought tolerance in chickpea (HTS).
Heat & Drought Tolerant Chickpea

38. 37
 Heat tolerant faba bean varieties
in Sudan
 Production increased from
~40,000 tons in 1995 to 150,000
tons at present.
‒ Area increased by 50,000 ha
‒ Productivity increased by 600
kg/ha
 Misr3 - orobanche tolerant and
Nubaria2 and Nubaria3 - drought
tolerant varieties helped improved
the self sufficiency level of faba
bean in Egypt
Climate resilient varieties of faba bean in Egypt and Sudan

39. 38
ILC533 cold susceptible
Screening for cold tolerance
 Every year screening for cold
tolerance done by early planting
 Several genotypes have been
identified used in breeding work to
develop cold tolerant varieties
Breeding for Cold Tolerance
ILC533 cold susceptible
Resistant lines

40. Increase chickpea productivity through forward breeding and
management strategies of Ascochyta Blight
• New gene mining (using targeted subsets from ICARDA
genebanks using FIGS)
• Development of new markers closely associated with AB
resistant (Mapping and QTL analysis using RIL population or
by association mapping)
• Applying of marker assisted selection in chickpea breeding
program for AB resistance
• Multi-location testing
• Study of development of the new pathotypes
(4 pathotypes identified and reported by ICARDA)
• Pyramiding of AB resistant genes
• Combine with cold tolerance
• CRISPR-Cas9 (genome editing) for enhancing AB resistance
ICARDA strategy for enhancing AB resistance

41. Four A. rabiei pathotypes amplified by AroH5T primers.
Two mating types of A. rabiei were amplified using The
multiplex MAT-specific primers.
Murad et al. 2009
Molecular detection of Ascochyta rabiei pathotypes

42. Resistant
Susceptible
Orobanche-resistant in faba bean in Egypt

43. Resistance to Botrytis fabae Disease in Faba beans in Egypt

44. 43
Insect Resistant Chickpea
Leaf miner
• 6 segregating population
and FIGS set evaluated
at Kemis Zemamra
station in Morocco
• 200 single plants with
good resistance and
pods/plant.
Evaluation of breeding lines for
resistance to Leaf miner
Damage by Helicoverpa pod borer in chickpea
Pod borer
• FIGS (375) evaluated in Annaceur
(off season)
• 34 lines with 1-5% damage

45. 44
Extra Early Lentils from Wild Species

46. 45
Extra Early Varieties
Replacing fallow in rice fallow in South Asia
Lowland Areas in Ethiopia

47. Machine Harvesting Lentil
 Good standing ability
 Erect and high biomass
 More height of the first pod
 No pod drop and shattering
 Idlib2, Idlib 3, Idlib 4, Ibla 1, ILL 590,
ILL1005, ILL6037, ILL6212, ILL7155

48. 47
Machine Harvestable Traits
 Screened breeding lines for good
standing ability, Erect tall, more height of
the first pod, no pod drop and shattering
and prominent tendrils
 Two lines with above traits, 08S41102
and 08S41137, identified .

49. 48
Chickpea
Development of large-seeded, short duration chickpea varieties with
resistance to wilt and Ascochyta blight and tolerant to drought and
heat suitable to mechanical harvest

50. 49
Large seeded cultivars for market opportunities
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
Area (000 ha) Production (000 tons) Yield (kg/ha)
328
438 411 430 431
475
508
409
500 499
643
696
906
950
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1971-73 1974-76 1980-82 1986-88 1989-91 1998-2K 2003-05
Small seeded lentil Large seeded lentil
Development of large-seeded Kabuli chickpea varieties
25-28 g 100 seed-1
34-40 g 100 seed-1
>50 g 100 seed-1
Before 2000
Target of
the project
After 2000
lentil and chickpea

51. IPM of Chickpea Leaf Miner
 Up to 45% yield loss in Morocco in spring chickpea
 Botanical pesticides such as neem oil is effective for its control.
 Parasitoids: conservation and enhancement through diversified
cropping system and the use of flowering medicinal plants as strips
between chickpea fields.
 Early planting date (winter)

52. Large Scale Impact of Research Investment
in Pulses

53. Winter vs. Spring Chickpea in West Asia & North Africa
Mature winter crop
Spring sown crop

54. 53
Drought Tolerant Chickpea Variety
Survived 2007 Excessive Drought in Turkey
The Kabuli chickpea, ‘Gokce’, developed by ICARDA and Turkish
national scientists, has withstood severe drought in Turkey and
produced when most other crops failed in 2007.
Gokce is used on
about 85% of the
chickpea production
areas (over 550,000
ha). With a yield
advantage of 300 kg/ha
over other varieties,
and world prices over
USD 1000/t, this
represents an
additional USD 165
million for Turkish
farmers, in 2007 alone..

55. Impact of research investment on
Pulses Production Improvement in Ethiopia
High yielding rust resistant Alemaya
lentil variety widely adopted in
Ethiopia
Increase in production 2000/01
- 2009/10:
•Lentils: 3 times
•Faba Bean: 40%
•Chickpea: 60%
Increased production and added
value products provides
employment through food
processing in rural areas
Field visits to pulse farmer involving policy makers
Decortication of lentil

56. 55
Research Impact on Pulses in Ethiopia
 Chickpea production was doubled
between 2000 and 2015.
 Kabuli Chickpeas – Expanding in
Central Highlands
 Export 54,000 tons Chickpea and
18,000 tons lentil
 Drought tolerant and Orobanche
resistant faba bean with farmers
 Pulses contribute >90 million USD
to Ethiopia foreign exchange

57. 56
Fast-tracking of Iron & Zinc-rich lentil varieties
India: Pusa Vaibhav (Fe 102 ppm) Bangladesh: Barimasur-4 (Fe 86 ppm; Zn-59
ppm
Ethiopia: Alemaya (Fe-98, Zn-64 ppm)
Nepal: Shekhar (Fe-78 ppm; Zn-68 ppm)

58. Lentil cultivars with high concentration of Fe & Zn
are in ‘fast-tracking’ seed dissemination
 Ethiopia: Alemaya
 Bangladesh: Barimasur-4,
Barimasur-5 and Barimasur-6,
Barimasur-7, Binamasur-7
 India: Pusa Vaibhav
 Nepal: Sisir, Shital, Shekhar,
Khajurah-1, Khajurah-2
 Syria: Idlib-2, Idlib-3
and Idlib-4
 Turkey: Myveci-2001
 Portugal: Beleza

59. 58
Impact on bio-fortified lentil in Bangladesh
0
20
40
60
80
100
BARI M4 BARI M5 BARI M6 BARI M7
Fe and Zn contents of lentil varieties
released in Bangladesh
Fe content (ppm) Zn content (ppm)
• Five bio-fortified varieties (BARI M4,
M5, M6 and M7, M-8) released
• Average production 1.3 t/ha
• Producing 186,000 ton micronutrient
dense lentil worth $30 million annually
• About 1 million farm families are
directly benefited in house-hold
nutritional security

60. Massive Technology Up-scaling of bio-fortified lentil in Bangladesh

61. 60
Rice
Jul-Oct
Lentil
Nov - Feb
Sesame
Mar - May
Fallow after rice
Nov - June
Example: 3 crops (India) per year
Rice Fallow Replacement by Pulses in India & Bangladesh

62. (Biradar and Xiao, 2011) (Biradar et al., 2012*)
Tapping potential of Rice Fallow in South Asia:
Legumes Food from Fallows
11.6 m ha in India
> 1.2 m ha in Bangladesh
0.55 m ha in Nepal

64. 63
Early Lentil Demonstration Replacing Fallow
in Fallow Rice Rotation in Bangladesh & India

65. 64
Enhancing farmers’ income and house-hold nutritional security
through intensification in Rice – Fallow Replacement
A farmer, Mr. S H Khunou earned
Rs 80,000 ($ 1230) in 2 ha rice-
fallow land in Manipur state of
India from lentil
A farmer, Mr. P. Das earned
Rs. 24,600 ($ 378) from lentil
in 0.48 ha rice fallow land

66. Grasspea in rice fallow in island of West Bengal

67. Lack of organic manure in soil:
Cow-dung is used as fuel
No-till lentil in Bangladesh
No-till lentil in, India: relay crop
in rice field
No-tillage lentils in Nepal
Grasspea under no-tillage in
India
Zero-till chickpea in India
CA Technology: Pulses are best fit

68. 67
Nepal – emerged as an exporter of lentil in South Asia
 Ten lentil varieties released
 Production of improved varieties:
124,952 t.
 Total values = 61.92 m USD /year
 >800,000 farm families benefited
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Local varieties Improved varieties
Grain yield (kg/ha)

69. 68
Faba bean production in Egypt
 Production increased from 130,000 ton in 2012 to 175,000 ton in 2015
 Misr3 - Orobanche tolerant and Nubaria2 and Nubaria3 - drought tolerant
varieties
 Self sufficiency level of faba bean in Egypt increased from 28% in 2012 to
37% at present

70. 69
Heat tolerant faba bean in Sudan
Production increased from ~40,000 t in nineties to 150,000 t at present.
• Increase in area (~20000 ha in nineties to ~70000 ha)
• Productivity from 1500 to 2120 kg/ha

71. Grasspea causes Neurolathyrism or Paralysis

72. 71
Grasspea
Low ODAP content for safe human food and with high
biomass for animal feed targeted to various cropping
system niches
Uses as dal, besan, vegetable, fodder/straw
Introductions
from ICARDA

73. Variety Nirmal produced 0.8-1.7 t/ha
Low-ODAP Grass pea varieties in Bangladesh and India

74. Recommendations & Conclusion

75. 74
How to raise awareness about pulse benefit?
 Inclusion pulses benefits in school curriculum among
children;
 Innovations in pulse products and ready to eat products;
 Messages by celebrities and eminent personalities about
the benefits of pulses in electronic media and print;
 National, regional and global events involving
participation of general public and celebrities;
 Short documentary films on benefits on pulses.

76. 75
Recommendations & Conclusions
 Pulses for Food Security
 Pulses contribute to global food and nutritional security both
directly & indirectly through high protein content.
 Major source of micro nutrients
 Important source of dietary fibre;.
 The protein content of legumes is not as affected by e[CO2] as
cereals & grasses –
 Pulses for Environmental Benefits and Mitigation of Climate
Change
 Pulse production enhance soil N content and soil productivity
and health;
 Production of pulses has lower greenhouse gas emissions than
crops that require N-fertilization;.
 Lower fossil energy costs than crops that needs N-fertilization;

77. 76
Recommendations & Conclusions (cont’d)
 Pulses for Environmental Benefits and Mitigation of Climate Change (cont’d)
 The inclusion of legumes in farming systems appears to accelerate soil C
sequestration promote soil health since it breaks the disease and insect
cycles in soil created by the prevailed cereal mono-culture .
 Considering the nutritional and environmental benefits of pulses, it is
essential that pulses consumption is well encouraged;
 It is important to bridge the gap between production and consumption at
both national and global levels;
 There is an urgent need to invest more in science and technology to
enhancing pulses productivity, production and reduce production cost.
.
The IYP is an excellent opportunity to promote
the consumption of pulses & more investment
in science and Technology to enhance pulses
productivity and production for global food and
nutrition security and healthy soils.

78. 77
Global Pulses Federation
2016 International Year of Pulses Signature Events

79. United States of America (USAD &
USDA)
World Bank
Germany
United Kingdom
IFAD
Italy
The Netherlands
European Commission
Arab Fund for Economic & Social
Development (AFESD)
Canada
Sweden
Australia (ACIAR & GRDC)
Norway
CGIAR
Desertification Trust Fund
Iran
Denmark
Japan
UNDP
IDRC
OPEC Fund for International
Development (OFID)
Egypt
France
Ford Foundation
Syria
Switzerland
Austria
Pakistan
Asian Development Bank
Spain
Belgium
FAO
Yemen
Saudi Arabia
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
India
Morocco
Turkey
Tunisia
China
UNEP
Global Mechanism-UNCCD
Ethiopia
Finland
Cornell University
Global Crop Diversity Trust
Libya
South Africa
Sudan
Harvest Plus
OCP Foundation Morocco
CRP Grain Legumes
Donors to ICARDA since its establishment in 1977
(In descending order of contribution)

80. Pulses……..
Safeguarding our nutritional security and environmental sustainability
Thank you