ICRISAT Introduces ICPV 25444: India’s First Heat‑Tolerant Year‑Round Pigeonpea

ICRISAT’s ICPV 25444: Game‑Changing Heat‑Tolerant Pigeonpea

Published: June 10, 2025
By: TrendPulse India Team

🌡️ What Makes ICPV 25444 Special?

For the first time ever, ICRISAT has developed ICPV 25444, a heat‑tolerant and photo‑insensitive pigeonpea cultivar that thrives even in scorching summer temperatures up to 45 °C and matures in just 125 days. Field trials across Telangana, Karnataka, and Odisha show impressive yields of 2 tons/hectare 1.

🚀 Speed‑Breeding: Cutting Years to Months

Built on ICRISAT’s novel speed‑breeding protocol (established in 2024), this cultivar condensed what used to take 15 years into just 5, enabling Indians to complete four generational cycles annually 2.

🌱 What It Means for Farmers

• All‑season cultivation: cultivable in both kharif (monsoon) and summer seasons.
• Reduces imports: cutting the ₹ 6,300 cr. annual pigeonpea import bill 3.
• Boosts farmer income: estimates suggest an additional ₹ 20,000/ha profit 4.
• Water-saving: requires fewer irrigations compared to paddy fields 5.

🔬 Science Behind the Breakthrough

Using a controlled-environment facility, ICRISAT scientists grew over 18,000 plants per season in a limited area, leveraging seed-chipping and advanced genomics to fast-track breeding 6.

🌾 Wider Impact & Future Plans

ICPV 25444 is part of ICRISAT’s strategy to expand pulses into double-cropping systems and fallow lands. The institute is also building a global trait panel using 13,000 accessions to support breeding worldwide 7.

💬 Voices from the Field

Farmers in Karnataka report no pest issues and are eager to plant during the summer, saying it's a “boon for summer cultivation” 8. 3399-0Dr. Himanshu Pathak hailed it as “science-driven urgency and purpose” 10.

🔚 Final Word

ICPV 25444 is more than just a crop—it’s a climate-smart, farmer-friendly revolution in agriculture. By enabling heat-resilient, high-yielding, year-long pigeonpea cultivation, it tackles food security and sustainability head-on.

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