Legumes such as peas or lupins supply valuable proteins for humans and animals as well as nitrogen for the soil, and they are also good bee forage plants. They are essential in particular for organic agriculture, as organic farmers do not use any synthetic nitrogen fertilisers. Unfortunately, various fungal diseases make legume cultivation difficult and necessitate up to tenyear breaks between such crops. In order to find more resistant cultivars, the FiBL plant breeding group works together with national and international partners to improve peas and lupins. Since 1998, FiBL has been pursuing the objective of promoting organic plant breeding as well as the independent seed market.
Pea lines that can resist harmful fungi
Root diseases are a major issue in pea cultivation. They usually appear when peas are repeatedly grown in the same field. In order to be able to test a large number of different pea lines for disease resistance, FiBL researcher Lukas Wille developed a resistance screening as part of his doctoral thesis completed in 2020. This made it possible to screen 300 pea lines to identify robust lines that show clear resistance to fungal attack; the others show strong disease symptoms on diseased soils and grow much more slowly. Organic plant breeders are now to benefit from these promising results. In close cooperation with the biodynamic cereal breeding association “Getreidezüchtung Peter Kunz”, the cultivar screening procedure is now being adapted for breeding work.
Beneficial microbes as crop aids
Lukas Wille’s PhD also showed that different microbes colonise the roots of susceptible and resistant pea cultivars respectively: for example, resistant cultivars are more strongly colonised by beneficial mycorrhizal fungi. In a follow-up project, Lukas Wille is currently investigating additional connections between a pea cultivar’s resistance traits, pathogens and the soil microbial community.
Renaissance of the white lupine
The currently vast levels of soybean imports to Europe for feed and food are highly problematic from an ecological point of view. The white lupine with its high protein content and low nutrient requirements would be a suitable local alternative. However, lupine cultivation is severely restricted by anthracnose leaf blight. It is caused by the seed-born fungus Colletotrichum lupini. Even low levels of seed infestation can cause complete yield loss under Swiss climatic conditions. For the successful cultivation of white lupins it is therefore important to understand the pathogen and to find resistant breeding material. FiBL researcher Christine Arncken has been breeding white lupins with improved anthracnose resistance since 2014. Her team also includes Joris Alkemade, who as part of his doctoral thesis developed a screening system that is performed in a controlled environment (climate chamber) and allows for the identification of resistant lupins at an early-stage of the plants’ development. The cultivar Frieda as well as Ethiopian landraces proved to be particularly resistant to anthracnose infestation. These findings were confirmed in field trials. Moreover, Joris Alkemade was able to show that anthracnose is mainly caused by one particular aggressive fungal strain and that this strain occurs worldwide. Joris Alkemade is currently searching for molecular markers that indicate which of the cultivars are particularly resistant. These markers could then be used for diagnostic purposes in organic plant breeding to identify robust cultivars more quickly.
Further information
Contact
Pierre Hohmann
Links
- fibl.org: Activity report
- FiBL Film: Weisse Lupine Resistenzzüchtung - Anthraknose Screening (German only)
- FiBL Film: Anbau von Lupinen - Ertragspotenzial der neuen Anthraknose-toleranten Sorten Frieda und Sulimo (German only)
- ETH research programme: ResPEAct
- Project on plant microbiome recruitment for superior cropping systems: AGRIBIOME
- Project to promote organic seeds and organic plant breeding: LIVESEED