World’s first black-seeded high yielding mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] varieties ‘NIFA Sikaram-21 and NIFA Spinghar-21’

Globally, black-seeded mungbean is cultivated only in Kuram area of  Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) of Pakistan and adjacent areas of Afghanistan. The black-seeded mungbean land-race being cultivated in the area since unknown dates had poor genetic back-ground, and hence, low yield potential and susceptibility to diseases. In order to develop high yielding shiny black-seeded mungbean varieties for Kuram, a cross was attempted between a local Mungbean Yellow Mosaic Virus (MYMV) susceptible land-race collected from Kuram and later named as Kuram black mung (KBM) and an MYMV resistant black mottled-seeded mutant named as NIFA black mung (NBM) in the kharif season 2014 at the Nuclear Institute for Food & Agriculture (NIFA), Peshawar. The F1 generation was planted in spring 2015. The F2 to F5 generations were raised in kharif 2016 – spring 2019. Single plants and lines based on shiny black seed coat color, short and medium plant stature, MYMV resistance and high grain yield were selected. Elite short and medium statured lines NBM-2-2-4-5 (NIFA Sikaram-21) and NBM-5-3-7 (NIFA Spinghar-21), respectively, were selected and tested in replicated yield trials along with black-seeded parents and green-seeded check varieties at NIFA and other locations in Kuram. On an average, NIFA Sikaram-21 produced seed yield of 1716 kg ha-1 and NIFA Spinghar-21 1724 kg ha-1 against KBM (880 kg ha-1) with 94% increase over KBM. However, its yield was lower than those of the green-seeded checks as green-seeded mungbean is well adapted to the growing conditions. Shiny black seeds, bold seed size and high grain yield are the distinguishing characters of NIFA Sikaram-21 and NIFA Spinghar-21. Furthermore, these are the first-ever black-seeded mungbean approved varieties in the world. The Provincial Seed Council of the KP approved both varieties in its  40th   meeting held on April 07, 2021.