Western Australia
September 6, 2017
DPIRD officers Dr Jonathan Clements, Cliff Staples, Daniel Renshaw and Dr Hua’an Yang with the newly released lupin variety PBA Leeman.
A new high protein lupin that has superior tolerance to the herbicide metribuzin was launched at the Mingenew Irwin Group Field Day in Western Australia today.
PBA Leeman is a high yielding narrow leaf lupin suited to an area stretching from the Northern Agricultural Region through to the Lakes District in the south.
The variety’s commercial title continues the relatively new tradition of naming lupin varieties after coastal towns close to the environments to which they are suited.
PBA Leeman was developed by Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) through the national Pulse Breeding Australia (PBA) lupin breeding program, with Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) investment.
Department senior plant breeder Jonathan Clements said the new variety would interest lupin growers targeting the high protein feed and aquaculture niche markets.
Dr Clements said PBA Leeman was comparable to the popular variety Coromup .
“PBA Leeman is an early maturing, early flowering sweet lupin variety that produces competitive yields, which are similar to or better than Coromup , a variety from 2006, which is still sown in Western Australia,” he said.
“The variety has a protein value of approximately 35.4 per cent, which is on average 0.6 per cent higher than Coromup .”
PBA Leeman is a robust lupin variety, with good pest and disease tolerance and superior tolerance to the herbicide metribuzin.
“It’s tolerance to metribuzin will make it a desirable variety for growers with weed management challenges,” Dr Clements said.
“The variety also has good resistance to the fungal diseases phomopsis, anthracnose, grey spot and aphids, with moderate levels of susceptibility to viruses.”
Seednet has been licenced to distribute PBA Leeman , which is subject to Plant Breeder’s Rights, and is currently being bulked up for commercial availability prior to the 2018 season.
The variety is one of the final two lupin varieties bred by the department, as part of the Pulse Breeding Australia’s national lupin breeding program.
The department has released about 30 lupin varieties since 1973, with early lupin varieties paving the way for the national development of the industry.
Contemporary varieties, developed with long term investments by the GRDC, now underpin the productivity and sustainability of farming systems on sandy acid soil types.
Plant breeding company Australian Grain Technologies (AGT) will continue to undertake commercial lupin breeding in WA through germplasm licensing arrangements established with DPIRD and GRDC in 2015.
The department will continue pre-breeding genetics research to identify disease, quality traits and agronomic performance traits in narrow leaf lupins.
More information about PBA Leeman can be found on the GRDC and Pulse Breeding Australia website.
Topics
Species
