ROLE OF MUTATION BREEDING IN CHICKPEA IMPROVEMENT: A MINI REVIEW

Mutation refers to any heritable changes in an individual's genome or phenotype. Mutation breeding is the most powerful and effective technique in the hands of plant breeders. It has been utilized to improve morphological and physiological characteristics, disease resistance, drought resistance, and quantitative traits such as yielding ability.  It is a low-cost and rapid approach of creating new improved crop cultivars. Plant breeding focuses on the genetic diversity in essential traits in order to create new, high-yielding, and better cultivars with desired traits. The seeds of chickpeas are the cheapest protein source and have the potential to reduce food scarcity and quality issues. The development of novel high producing and qualitative food is a difficult task for crop breeders, but it can be accomplished through mutational breeding techniques. The present article is focused on the in depth insights as a role of mutation breeding in chickpea improvement.

Keyword: Mutation, Phenotype, Breeding, Chickpea, Improvement.