The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed India’s first fully annotated Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) reference genome of the pigeonpea variety ‘Asha’. The breakthrough is expected to accelerate crop improvement, strengthen pulse self-reliance, and support the development of climate-resilient, high-yielding pigeonpea varieties.

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• ICAR has developed India’s first fully annotated Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) reference genome of the pigeonpea variety ‘Asha’, marking a major milestone in agricultural genomics and pulse crop research.
• The genome assembly, designated NIPB_CcT2T_4, was officially released on 20 April 2026 and has been deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database under accession number GCF_000230855.1.
• A Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) genome represents a complete chromosome-level DNA sequence extending from one telomere to the other, providing highly accurate genetic information for advanced crop research.
• The ‘Asha’ pigeonpea genome consists of 752.65 million base pairs, 92 contigs, 11 chromosomes, 11 centromeres, and 22 telomeres, making it one of the most comprehensive pulse genome assemblies developed in India.
• Genome annotation identified 36,557 genes and 48,008 mRNA sequences, while achieving more than 99.9% read alignment, ensuring exceptional accuracy for genetic analysis and breeding programmes.
• The research was carried out by the National Institute for Plant Biotechnology (NIPB) under ICAR, which earlier produced the world’s first draft genome of a pulse crop in 2011 and an improved version in 2017.
• Pigeonpea, also known as arhar or red gram, is a protein-rich legume belonging to the Fabaceae family and is one of India’s most important pulse crops.
• The genomic breakthrough supports India’s Aatmanirbharta in Pulses initiative, which aims to increase pulse production to 35 million tonnes by 2030–31 through the development of climate-resilient and high-yielding crop varieties.