ABSTRACT
Pulses are inherently climate-resilient crops by virtue of their special morphophysiological attributes, such as deep tap root system, higher water-use efficiency, nitrogen-fixing ability, ability to host beneficial microbes in the rhizosphere to solubilize phosphates, etc. Low water and nutrient requirements, nitrogen-fixation ability, and high proteins are the prominent features of pulses that discriminate them from other crops. Besides having the potential to increase soil fertility, the seeds of pulses are densely packed with nutrients. Being rainfed crops, pulses often experience terminal drought and heat stress at reproductive stages. The majority of the pulses are sensitive to high temperature above 35°C, leading to inhibition of photosynthesis and reduction of pollen fertility. Improving water relation characteristics could be one of the best strategies to addresses combined drought and heat tolerances. Deep root, osmotic adjustment, lower 13C/12C carbon isotope discrimination ratio, and lower stomatal aperture contribute significantly toward improving water-use efficiency, although cellular-level tolerance, including expression of antioxidative enzymes, heat shock proteins, acquired thermotolerance, membrane stability, and altered carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes, play important roles toward dual tolerance. However, the primary strategy of pulses to acquire tolerance could be by means of improved water relation characteristics. Faster biomass accumulation, early flowering, deep roots, and regulated transpiration water loss through modified stomatal morphology have direct ways of conserving moisture and cellular-level tolerance have further additive advantages toward combined tolerance. Pulses should be acquired with adequate photothermoinsensitivity and introgressed with cellular-level tolerance to stabilize yield. Based on precision phenotyping, such as chlorophyll fluorescence, antioxidative enzymes, photosynthesis, osmotic adjustment, root profile, acquired thermotolerance, and water-use efficiency, a number of pulse germplasms have been identified as tolerant to various abiotic stresses. Field-level screening, including thermal imaging, NDVI, and SPAD chlorophyll readings, are available at the first level of selection against drought or heat. Major pulses, such as chickpea, pigeonpea, lentil, and lathyrus, are relatively drought tolerant as compared to greengram, blackgram, and fieldpea. Wild species of these pulses are the house of many abiotic stress-tolerance genes. Genetic diversity of abiotic stress tolerance can be exploited by using precision phenotyping. Genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and phenomics tools have enabled speeding up breeding programs more precisely.
