Aboutus

At the recent International Conference on Grain Legumes (ICGL-2009) held at Indian Institute of Pulse Research (IIPR), Kanpur in India, leading chickpea researchers from India, USA, Australia, Canada as well as from two CGIAR (Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research) Centers (ICRISAT, India and ICARDA, Syria) during an interactive chickpea genomics and breeding session decided to establish an international platform for facilitating the chickpea research in the area of genetics and genomics to understand genome architecture and dynamics and to assist chickpea improvement. As a result, International Chickpea Genetics and Genomics Consortium (ICGGC) was floated.

Chickpea is one of the major legume crops in the world and a staple food in many developing countries especially in South Asia and Sub Saharan Africa where it is grown for protein and carbohydrate supply. In developed countries like Canada and Australia it is grown for export, constitutes an important trade commodity.

ICGGC would facilitate coordination in chickpea genetics and genomics research, that has exploded in recent years as a result of several national and international initiatives with an objective to ensure synergy in ongoing efforts. The ICGGC would be benefitted heavily from other legume genomics initiatives as well.