- Genome of the peanut, in important nutritional and commercial crop, has been sequenced for the first time by the International Peanut Genome Initiative (IPGI), a group of multi-national crop geneticists as reported by the The International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
- The present day Peanut, also known as groundnut, an important commercial and nutrition crop.
- The tetraploidy of the present day peanut is the result of a natural cross between two wild species Arachis duranensis and Arachis ipaensis. Its genome sequence was obtained by using sequences of the two ancestral parents.
- This breakthrough will help farmers produce resilient varieties with increased yield using minimal amount of pesticides thus securing their livelihood.
- Peanut, one of ICRISAT’s mandate crops is cultivated on more than 24 million hectares worldwide producing 40 million metric tonnes will help counter malnutrition, poverty and hunger if developed to be drought-resistant.
- In the fight against poverty and hunger amid the threat of climate change, these highly nutritious, drought-tolerant crops are the best bets for resource-poor, smallholder farmers in the drylands to survive and improve their livelihoods.
Exams Perspective:
- International Peanut Genome Initiative (IPGI)
- International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
- Drought Resistant Varieties
- Malnutrition
- Genetic Sequencing