Australia
August 31, 2015
Pulse breeders and pulse research agronomists from across Australia working with Pulse Breeding Australia (PBA) have developed and tested three new varieties that may soon find a place as valuable cash crops within growers’ systems.
Pulse Breeding Australia is a joint venture of the GRDC, the South Australian Research and Development Institute, the Department of Agriculture and Food, WA, the Victorian Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, the NSW Department of Primary Industries, the University of Adelaide, the University of Sydney and Pulse Australia.
The new cultivars will be unveiled this spring at various field days across Australia.
Northern faba bean
Dr Kedar Adhikari, grain legume breeder at the University of Sydney, in a paddock of the new faba bean variety PBA Nasma.
A new faba bean, PBA Nasma, will be released in September at the University of Sydney Plant Breeding Institute field day at Narrabri, New South Wales.
Dr Kedar Adhikari, program leader and grain legume breeder at the University of Sydney, says PBA Nasma is well adapted to northern NSW where it has out-yielded PBA Warda by three to five per cent in dryland and irrigated trials. Its rust resistance and tolerance to bean leaf roll virus is similar to PBA Warda.
In terms of seed size, Dr Adhikari says PBA Nasma is the largest of the northern faba bean varieties. He suggests growers consider PBA Nasma as an alternative to PBA Warda when targeting premium markets in northern NSW and southern Queensland due to its yield advantage. Its disease-management package is similar to PBA Warda.
Southern faba bean
A paddock of the new lupin variety planned for naming and release at Mingenew, Western Australia, in September.
Growers in southern Australia may wish to take a look at the new large-seeded faba bean PBA Zahra. Dr Jeffrey Paull, who leads the PBA faba bean breeding program from the University of Adelaide, says PBA Zahra is high-yielding with plump seed and has performed well in the southern region, particularly in high-rainfall areas.
He says the new variety is resistant to the strain of ascochyta blight widespread in the southern region, but moderately susceptible to the new ascochyta blight strain identified recently in South Australia’s mid-north. Its tolerance to other major diseases is similar to current faba bean varieties.
Dr Paull says the seed size of PBA Zahra is similar to PBA Rana and should be well suited to Middle Eastern markets.
Lupin variety
A new narrow-leafed lupin variety, tested as WALAN2385, will be named and released in September at the Mingenew-Irwin Group Spring Field Day. Dr Jon Clements, senior plant breeder at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA), says WALAN2385, a cross made and progressed during former breeder Dr Bevan Buirchell’s time at DAFWA – with support from geneticist Dr Huan Yang, pathologist Geoff Thomas and technical staff – is high-yielding across most lupin-growing areas of WA, NSW, SA and Victoria. “It has good anthracnose and phomopsis resistance, high tolerance to metribuzin, early flowering and early maturity with grain-quality parameters that on average meet market requirements,” he says. Dr Clements says WALAN2385 provides a significant yield improvement in most lupin-growing regions of Australia and should be suitable to replace the current industry standard variety Mandelup.
Topics
Species
