Results from major mungbean trials at Warwick and Biloela have provided the foundation for a breeding program that will give the Australian industry top-class varieties for the future.

Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries pulse plant breeder Merrill Fordyce said the trials involved 1000 lines representing the entire Australian mungbean collection held at the Tropical Crops Plant Genetic Resource Centre in Biloela.

Dr Fordyce said the trials aimed to find out more about the extensive collection so the best of lines could be used in future breeding work.

Results showed enough diversity in the lines to be able to breed varieties that suited both growers and future markets.

Dr Fordyce said during the course of the now-finished trials, extensive information about each of the lines had been recorded since planting last December.

She said while it was unusual for information to be recorded about individual lines in an entire collection, it would be enormously helpful to present and future plant breeders.

"The trials have been most productive and present a one off opportunity to identify superior quality seed lines to be used as parents in our new crossing program."

Dr Fordyce said the trials had been labour intensive, with each of the 1000 lines and their two replications being hand harvested to maintain their purity.

"It has been well worth it as we've found lines with different heights, plant types, maturity, disease resistance, seed size, quality and yield."

She said that some of the trial lines would be used in a mungbean crossing program that would start immediately.

Dr Fordyce said that as another part of the mungbean-breeding program, 200 advanced lines had been evaluated at 13 different sites in Central and South Queensland and NSW.

She said the sites had been harvested and would allow yield data from two years and 26 sites to be analysed.

"After the first year of trials, we had lines out-yielding commercial varieties. We hope this has continued into our second year, which could mean new varieties in the not-too-distant future.

Dr Fordyce said there was considerable interest in growing mung beans in Queensland and New South Wales, with the industry earning more than $30 million a year from export sales.

She said improved varieties would provide extra impetus to both the production and marketing sides of the industry.