Investment

This project involving a collaboration between Western Australia Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) and CSIRO aims to initiate and lay the foundation of research and breeding for chilling tolerance in chickpea. Under this one-year initiation phase, the project team will evaluate more than 350 lines developed from crosses of elite chickpea with wild relatives known to display cold tolerance. Screening will be done under field conditions at Dale, a site recognised for frost tolerance research in WA. The project will identify list of lines exhibiting vegetative cold and chilling tolerance and standardise protocols for effective screening of chickpeas under cold and frost. This information will be shared with chickpea pre-breeders and breeders who will use these outputs in developing varieties that would downgrade cold sensitivity as a major contributor to yield stability associated with chickpea production.