ICAR Develops India's First Telomere-to-Telomere Genome of Pigeonpea 'Asha'

6 August 2026National

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) developed India's first fully annotated Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) reference genome of the pigeonpea (*Cajanus cajan*) variety 'Asha', which was approved as the global reference genome to accelerate climate-resilient, high-yielding pigeonpea varieties. The genome comprises 752.65 million DNA base pairs across all 11 chromosomes, with 36,557 genes identified. It supports the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses, targeting about 35 million tonnes of pulses by 2030-31. ICAR-NIPB had earlier developed the world's first draft genome of a pulse crop in 2011.

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ICAR established: 1929 | HQ: New Delhi | Pigeonpea = Arhar / Tur dal | ICAR under: Ministry of Agriculture

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ICAR developed India's first Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) genome of pigeonpea variety 'Asha', now the global reference genome for the pulse.

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