Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Abstract

Chickpea is one of the most important leguminous, cool-season, food crops, cultivated prevalently in the Asian Pacific region. In spite of its nutritional importance, its area of cultivation has been low, with virtually no increase. Conventional breeding has resulted in several important improvements in this crop, and recent advances in biotechnology such as plant tissue culture and genetic transformation can significantly contribute to better sustainability of this important food crop. Here, we describe an efficient Agrobacterium-mediated transformation protocol for chickpea using axillary meristem explants, which results in a high frequency of genetic transformation (70%) and recovery of valuable transgenic plants. The protocol is significant owing to its high reproducibility and recovery of the transgenics in a relatively short period (90-100 days).