Editing Cicer (section)

==Cultivable species==
Currently, the only [[Horticulture|cultivated]] species of the genus ''Cicer'' is ''C. arietinum'', commonly known as the chickpea.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = van Oss | first1 = R. | last2 = Abbo | first2 = S. | last3 = Eshed | first3 = R. | year = 2015 | title = Genetic Relationship in ''Cicer'' Sp Expose Evidence for Geneflow between the Cultigen and Its Wild Progenitor | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0139789 | pmid = 26447951 | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 10 | issue = 10 | pages = e0139789 | bibcode = 2015PLoSO..1039789V | pmc=4597980| doi-access = free }}</ref>

The wild [[progenitor]] of ''C. arietinum'' is ''[[Cicer reticulatum]]''. Since the chickpea has descended from this wild plant, there is a possibility that this wild progenitor can offer other forms of edible chickpeas after domestication. In wild chickpea (''C. reticulatum''), a considerable proportion of the mature pods remain intact, and this characteristic leads to the species being described as pre-adapted to domestication. This essentially means that the function of one of its traits can change, or evolve, as the progenitor is domesticated. This implies that traits such as texture, size, and most importantly, nutritional content can be adjusted in this species. Domesticated chickpea is considered vernalization insensitive (it can flower at all times of the year), whereas wild ''C. reticulatum'' shows a considerable flowering advance (of up to 30 days) in response to vernalization—which means that the plant would have to grow in areas where it is exposed to a prolonged period of cold before it can properly grow.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Abbo | first1 = S. | last2 = Van-Oss | first2 = R.P. | last3 = Gopher | first3 = A. | year = 2014 | title = Plant domestication versus crop evolution: a conceptual framework for cereals and grain legumes | journal = Trends in Plant Science | volume = 19 | issue = 6| pages = 351–360 | doi=10.1016/j.tplants.2013.12.002| pmid = 24398119 | bibcode = 2014TPS....19..351A }}</ref>

Although there is promise for some kind of domestication process to allow for and create new sources of food through ''C. reticulatum'', there are several issues that make domestication of this wild species quite difficult. The first of these problems is that ''C. reticulatum'' may offer only limited adaptive allelic variation for improving the chickpea crop. Also, the narrow range of the ''C. reticulatum'' suggests that the prospects for improving the adaptive range of domesticated chickpea are quite limited. The patchy distribution of the wild plant, the small number of seeds produced per plant, and the relatively low allelic variation within populations (of the wild progenitor) makes germplasm conservation ( conservation of seeds or tissues, otherwise known as the living [[genetic resources]] of plants) a bit difficult.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Peleg | first1 = Z. | last2 = Shabtay | first2 = A. | last3 = Abbo | first3 = S. | year = 2015 | title = Allelic diversity between and within three wild annual ''Cicer'' species | journal = Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution | volume = 62 | issue = 2| pages = 177–188 | doi=10.1007/s10722-014-0141-2| bibcode = 2015GRCEv..62..177P | s2cid = 11311762 }}</ref>

When tried in the past, chickpea breeding has faced problems because of the lack of genetic diversity. This has caused limitations in efforts to improve resistance to diseases such as Ascochyta blight and Fusarium wilt. There have also been problems such as insects susceptible to breaking through the chickpea pods and limitations in increasing tolerance to abiotic stresses such as terminal drought and extreme temperatures. To fix these limitations, the introduction of alleles controlling the traits of interest from wild germplasm is essential in order to increase the genetic diversity of cultivated chickpeas. Currently, the chickpea's immediate ancestor, ''C. reticulatum'', and its interfertile sister species ''[[Cicer echinospermum]]'', are the main sources of new variation. Introgression is still possible from the more distantly related gene pools, but more research has to be done on this possibility.<ref>Roorkiwal, M., von Wettberg, E.J., & Upadhyaya, H.D. (2014). Exploring Germplasm Diversity to Understand the Domestication Process in ''Cicer'' spp. Using SNP and DArT Markers. PLoS ONE, 9.</ref> But the narrow variation of the wild progenitor (''C. reticulatum'') of the chickpea and the limited number of ''C. reticulatum'' accessions have caused a need to look for desired alleles in other more distantly related ''Cicer'' species <ref name=Abbo>{{cite journal|last1=Abbo|first1=S|last2=Mesghenna|first2=YT|last3=van Oss|first3=H|title=Interspecific hybridization in wild ''Cicer'' sp.|journal=Plant Breeding|date=2011|volume=130|issue=2|pages=150–155|doi=10.1111/j.1439-0523.2010.01838.x|bibcode=2011PBree.130..150A}}</ref>