The protein molecule is the basic building block of every living entity. Its deficiency leads to restricted growth and development of individuals. Globally, such malnutrition is on the rise due to various reasons such as rapid population growth, stagnation of productivity, and ever-rising costs. Millions of people, especially in developing and under-developed countries, suffer from protein malnutrition and the only possible solution is to encourage farmers to grow high-protein food legume crops in their fields for domestic consumption. This, however, could be possible if farmers are provided with new cultivars with high yield, and resistance to major insects, diseases, and key abiotic stresses. 

The major food legume crops are chickpea, cowpea, common bean, groundnut, lentil, pigeonpea, and soybean. Predominantly, the legume crops are grown under a subsistence level and, therefore, in comparison to cereals and horticultural crops their productivity is low and highly variable. The crop breeders around the globe are engaged in breeding suitable cultivars for harsh and changing environments but success has been limited and not up to needs.

With the recent development of new technologies in plant sciences, efforts are being made to help under-privileged farmers through breeding new cultivars which will produce more protein per unit of land area. In this book, the contributors analyze the constraints, review new technologies, and propose a future course of crop breeding programs in seven cold and warm season legume crops. 

Kul Bhushan Saxena is a well-known pigeon pea breeder. He has been pioneer in discovery and establishing hybrid breeding system in pigeon pea. He has served more than three decades at ICRISAT and still contributing to research community through his publications after his retirement.

Rachit K Saxena is a Senior Scientist (Applied Genomics) at ICRISAT. He is contributing in development and application of genomics for crop improvement. He has successfully identified and validated candidate genes and facilitated the subsequent deployment of key genes in breeding programs. He made significant contribution in decoding genomes of two legume species - pigeon pea and chickpea.

Rajeev K Varshney is a Research Program Director, Genetic Gains at ICRISAT. He is internationally recognized for his contribution in genome sequencing of pigeonpea, chickpea, peanut, pearl millet, sesame, mung bean and azuki bean and development of molecular breeding products in chickpea and peanut.  He is a Highly Cited Researcher as per Thomson Reuters for last several years. He is providing leadership for several organizations by serving member or chair for their committees, editorial boards, funding organizations and advisory boards around the world.