Heterophilly in pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millisp.] seedlings

Abstract

Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millisp.] belongs to subfamily papilionaceae of family leguminoseae. Considerable variation in the leaf shape and sizes of the primordial leaves developed from emerging plumule immediately after germination and first few leaves there after is observed sporadically in various germplasm lines and cUltivated varieties. Their occurrence and perpetuation, generation after generation are not seen in the available literature. If such variants could be fixed, they may be useful seedling markers, which can have special significance in hybrid breeding for identification of parents and hybrids [1]. Present paper describes the variation for few characters related to the seedlings of pigeonpea.