WIDE HYBRIDIZATION IN PULSES CROP

Pulses are an essential source of protein in the diet of the predominantly vegetarian Indian population. Pulses are known as the poor man''s meat because they are rich in nutrition and low in cost. Therefore most low-income populations can use this nutritious crop as their staple food. The main object of wide hybridization is to enhance yield with the production crop plant from biotic and abiotic stress. Hybridization between individuals from different species belonging to the same genus or to different genera is called distant hybridization or wide hybridization. It has been used in the genetic improvement of pulse crop plants. It is transferring desirable traits into cultivated species from wild species of related species and genera. Crossing between two different species of the same genus or two different genera of the same family is called wide hybridization.