How genome sequencing could open several prospects for pomegranate farmers

The sequencing, the result of six years of hard work, has unlocked several mysteries about pomegranates which are sometimes called 'wonder-fruits' due to their immense nutritional value

In a path-breaking development in horticultural science, a team of researchers at the National Research Centre for Pomegranates (NRCP), Sholapur, under the Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR), have managed to complete genome sequencing of the most popular indigenous pomegranate variety called ‘Bhagawa’.

The sequencing, which is the result of six years of hard work, has unlocked several mysteries related to pomegranates which are also sometimes called ‘wonder-fruits’ due to their immense nutritional value and market demand.

These mysteries include identifying genes responsible for sweetness of the ‘Bhagawa’ variety, seed softness and the colour of the fruit and also those responsible for disease and pest resistance and enlargement of the fruit. Genome sequencing is the first step in development of new varieties of a crop.

So what is the significance of this scientific achievement?

Pomegranate has a very narrow genetic base with limited genomic information available in public domain to support conventional breeding programmes, which is a serious impediment in pomegranate improvement and planned release of new improved varieties.

Moreover, conventional tree breeding takes very long--often more than 20 years--to release an improved variety.

These resulted in almost whole commercial cultivation under a single variety leading to mono-culture; very little number of varieties which are resistant against major diseases, insects-pests and climatic challenges and no development of new varieties for specific purposes of the user industry and export market.

So, in order to create ample genomic information and resources to map genes responsible for reaction to bacterial blight and other important horticulture traits, and to fast-track the pomegranate improvement programme, this project was taken up by NRCP some six years ago.

But why pomegranate?

India is one of the world’s largest producers of pomegranates. The fruit is also one of the fastest growing fruit crops in the country, registering a growth of 170 per cent in acreage, 340 per cent in production, and 264 per cent in export over the past 10 years.

This superfood is very important for raising farmers’ income in semi-arid tropics having harsh weather conditions, sub-optimal soil, and low availability of irrigation water.

Accoring to some estimates the crop, which is considered one of the most nutritionally rich fruits, supports the livelihood of about 2.5 million farm families in India at present.

And, in pomegranates, the indigenous 'Bhagawa' variety was chosen for genome sequencing as it covers around 85 per cent of the total pomegranate acreage in India with almost 2.5 million tonnes of production last year.

In 2021-22, almost all of India's pomegranate export of around 100,000 tonnes that earned a crores of rupees in foreign exchange was 'Bhagawa'.

This variety has all the favourable horticultural traits of a pomegranate like deep red rind and aril colour, soft seeds, high yield and good keeping quality.

Is it the first time globally that such a genome sequencing in pomegranates has been attempted?

Scientists said that though it might not be first but definitely a very rare attempt has been made as genome sequencing of pomegranates is usually not done.

What is the next step after genome sequencing?

The sequencing opens a world of opportunity as far as pomegranates are concerned. It will help in developing hybrid varieties and also could be a step towards gene editing, which is the latest in seed technology.

Did NRCP alone participate in the programme or did it take help from somewhere?

The sequencing was executed at Nucleome Informatics, a Hyderabad based genomics lab. Nucleome is the only laboratory from Asia which is affiliated with the world's largest and prestigious genomics program ‘The Vertebrate Genome Project’ to sequence 70000 vertebrate genomes.

Nucleome is also developing an Indian population based genomics chip for inherited retinal diseases under the Indo Korean Project. Last year, a new lab of the Centre was inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

How does this genome sequencing benefit the average pomegranate farmer and when can he expect to reap it?

For farmers, the research can benefit him first by increasing the crop's productivity, improving its fruit quality, boosting export value and reducing the cost of production by lowering the expenditure on pest and disease control.

The genomic information will fast-track the variety development programme for the development of varieties with better horticultural traits like fruit size, fruit colour, seed softness which will be very useful in improving productivity and improving quality of produce.

It should lead to availability of better varieties in the next 3-4 years to farmers.