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.

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.

[5] 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 [6] Cicer perennials harbor great resistances in particular environments in comparison to the resistances of other herbaceous species.

However, various methods such as chemical scarification with concentrated sulphuric acid as well as hot water treatment can be used to improve germination.

A study found that perennials such as C. canariense and C. microphyllum have high resistance to H. armigera compared to C. judaicum, an annual plant.

When tested, the perennial wild Cicer species recovered after wilting and drying out and also tolerated high temperatures.

Drought and pest resistance along with scientific improvements in crop development play a huge role in the evolution of many Cicer perennials.

Further studies of genetic exchange and crossbreeding between Cicer perennials could potentially benefit the traits of contemporary food-bearing crops and provide extensive knowledge for innovation.

The genus, Cicer, is composed of many species with different characteristics that make it an interesting candidate for a food crop.

[12] Further research into these relationships has been performed to analyze the relatedness of perennial and annual species, both cultivated and wild, at 12 loci to see how closely they are related.

Because of the phylogenetic and genetic data studied and produced in the past, a hybrid between perennial and annual Cicer species is promising.

Many steps have been taken to improve the hybridization techniques and results between perennial and annual species, but it has proven difficult to create a viable offspring from these crosses.

One particularly successful cross between "the annual C. cuneatum and perennial C. canariense" showed a "partially fertile with intermediate morphology" F-1 generation.