September 10, 2003
A
new lupin hybrid with excellent seed quality could provide an
alternative to
Western Australia’s
traditional lupin species and deliver up to $100 per tonne in
grain premiums.
Leveraging international and local expertise, the University of
Western Australia
(WA)
based Centre for Legumes
in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA) has commenced an
ambitious project to cross WA’s incumbent commercial lupin with
the exotic mutabilis species of South America.
“Mutabilis has up to a third more protein and up to three times
more oil than narrow leafed lupin, but its adaptation to WA’s
mediterranean environment has not been fully assessed,” CLIMA
researcher, Jon Clements said.
“Mutabilis oil is high in unsaturated fatty acids, low in erucic
acid and compares favourably to canola oil, while protein
quality would suit stock and aquaculture feed industries.”
To
adapt the variety to local conditions, CLIMA hopes to cross
mutabilis with the narrow leafed and albus lupin species that
can thrive across southern Australia.
Success, however, with interspecific lupin crosses has been
limited throughout the world, prompting CLIMA to link with Ewa
Sawicka-Sienkiewicz, of the University of Wroclaw, Poland, who
has achieved unprecedented success with interspecific crosses.
Refined over several years, her breeding techniques produce
hybrids from up to seven per cent of the lupin flowers she
cross-pollinates.
Supported by CLIMA start-up funding, UWA’s Dr Clements and the
Department of Agriculture’s Dr Mark Sweetingham will employ many
of Professor Sawicka-Sienkiewicz’s techniques to cross mutabilis
with locally adapted species.
“Cultivated for centuries by the indigenous people of Ecuador,
Peru and Bolivia, mutabilis has so far displayed poor agronomic
adaptation to WA. Efforts now focus on crossing it with adapted
domestic varieties and performing embryo rescue to develop a WA
suited mutabilis cousin to boost profitability for lupin
growers,” Dr Clements said.
“One of the first steps has already been achieved by
cross-breeding mutabilis lines to combine early flowering and
low seed alkaloids.” |