The International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will host the sixth international conference on Legume Genetics and Genomics (ICLGG) here.

The six-day conference will begin on October 2. About 500 delegates from 44 countries are expected to attend the conference to discuss advances in the area of legume genetics and genomics.

William D. Dar, Director-General of ICRISAT; Swapan Datta, Deputy Director-General (Crop Science) of ICAR; and Rick Dixon, Plant Biology Division Director and Senior Vice-President of Noble Foundation, the USA, will address the conference.

“This conference is of great significance for India as legumes form an important constituent of the vegetarian diet consumed globally and complement cereal crops as a rich source of dietary protein (ranging from 20-40 per cent),” Dar said here in a statement.

India is the largest or one of the largest producers of a majority of pulse crops in the world. It contributes 25 per cent to the global legume production.

“Despite being the largest producer for the majority of pulse crops there is a significant difference in its production and consumption. Owing to this huge difference in the production and consumption, India has to spend a significant amount of its foreign currency on import of these legumes to fill the gap. In 2008, India spent about $2 billion on the import of these legumes,” an ICRISAT statement said.

Earlier editions of the conference have been held in the US (twice), France, Australia and Mexico.

>kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in

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