Influence of pod maturity and level of domestication on biochemical components in wild and cultivated pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan)

Variations in the trypsin inhibitors and lectin content in the developing pods of thirty accessions of Cajanus scarabaeoides, a wild relative of pigeonpea, from wide geographical locations and six cultivated genotypes were estimated at juvenile, immature and mature stages of pod development. Genotypes differed at all three stages for these two biochemical components. Total protein and trypsin inhibitor contents were higher in the wild accessions than in the cultivated genotypes. Although lectin content in the juvenile stage of pod development in the wild accessions ICPW 138 and ICPW 98 was highest, it was absent in the mature pods in both the cultivated and the wild genotypes. Very high broad-sense heritability estimates indicated the possibility of involvement of few genes in the inheritance of these biochemical components, which could be easily introgressed into the elite agronomic background.