Genetic and Protein Engineering

Guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) being an important legume is mainly utilized as vegetable crop. Currently, it is gaining importance in industry as guar gum due to higher galactomannan content in the seed endosperm. Apart, the crop is rich in protein content (24-28%) and thus it can be used as a good protein source. Developing good genotypes for the vagarious climatic condition is important. In view of this, to provide raw materials for the industries, an experiment was conducted during 2013 and 2014 at GKVK, Bengaluru, India to evaluate good guar genotypes for protein, gum and seed yield traits. The experiment was laid out in split-split plot design consisting of three dates of sowing in main plots (July fi rst fortnight, July second fortnight and August first fortnight), 2 spacings (30 cm x 15 cm and 45 cm x 15 cm) in sub-plots and 4 genotypes (HG- 563, HG-365, RGC-1006 and Tulsi) in sub-sub plots and was replicated thrice. Results indicated that among the genotypes, the genotype HG-563 recorded significantly higher protein content of 26.35% over other genotypes and lower protein content of 24.51% was recorded with Tulsi genotype. The same genotypes also recorded higher and lower protein yield of 178.1 and 112.5 kgha-1, respectively. Similarly, the genotype HG-563 recorded significantly higher gum content and yield of 30.28% and 204.7 kgha-1, respectively. Th e higher protein and gum yield was mainly attributed to better growth components, which helped in better translocation of photosynthates from source to sink lead to higher protein in seeds. Significantly higher seed yield of

guar was registered with HG-563 (676 kgha-1) as compared to Tulsi genotype