Growers thinking of tapping into the evolving pulse crop market are being encouraged to explore the latest breeding lines being developed by plant breeders Limagrain UK
To meet the growing demand for protein crops, Mr Pillinger highlights the hard work being done by the Limagrain European breeding team to enhance the major traits in their varieties and introduce new ones using routine diagnostic marker assisted selection (MAS).
“This is being done at a high-tech facility in the Netherlands which allows the breeders to undertake rapid generation cycling.”
“Target traits sought for peas include reliable yields with consistently high protein levels, resistance to lodging, and tolerance and resistance to diseases. Cold tolerance without damaging the protein percentage is an important trait for growing in more northerly climates.”
“The new varieties are then put into schemes for extensive localised testing across light, medium and heavy soils in different locations,” he says.
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“The new varieties are then put into schemes for extensive localised testing across light, medium and heavy soils in different locations,” he says.
“Our testing builds a comprehensive data set and highlights which varieties are adapted to multiple environments, so we can identify the best high quality, stable varieties,” continues Mr Pillinger, adding that these extended trials also build understanding of optimum drill timings.
These techniques have helped Limagrain address some of the challenges of decline in performance observed in pulses seen over the last decade or so.
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“Some of the decline can be attributed to diseases such as soil-dwelling oomycete Aphanomyces euteiches and bacterial blight, and he highlights that there was a possibility that changes in disease strains and races had been brought on by climate change.
“Agricultural policy also influences grower choices and fluctuations in support makes the crop less interesting.
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