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Evaluation and utilisation of pea and faba bean germplasm from China.

R Redden1, J vanLeur2, X Zong3, S Bao4, L. Yujiao5, J Paull6 and T Leonforte1

1 Department of Primary Industries Victoria, Private bag 260, Horsham, Victoria 3401. bob.redden@dpi.vic.gov.au
2
NSW Department of Primary Industries, Tamworth, NSW.
3
Institute of Crop Sciences, CAAS, Beijing, China.
4
Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
5
Qinghai Academy of Forestry and Agricultural Sciences, Xining, Qinghai, China.
6
Waite campus, University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond, South Australia.

Abstract

Newly collected faba bean (Vicia faba) and pea (Pisum sativum) germplasm plus a core set of pea landraces from China were evaluated in both China and Australia. The pea gene pool in China differed from the rest of the world and provided new sources of diversity for ascochyta and virus resistance in faba bean, and for ascochyta, rust and salinity resistance in peas.

Incorporating these new sources into Australian field pea and faba bean pre-breeding and breeding programs will ultimately lead to improved varieties and greater productivity of Australian agriculture.

Key words

land races, gene pool, agronomic traits, ascochyta, rust, salinity tolerance.

Methods

Landraces of pea (95) and faba bean (93) were collected in Qinghai and Yunnan provinces of China in 2004 and 2005 from 137 sites as part of an ACIAR project on pulse improvement in China.A core collection of 301 landraces representing Chinese pea germplasm was also forwarded to Australia. In exchange, ATFCC provided China with a core collection of pea germplasm representing world diversity,as well as elite Australian pea and faba bean breeding lines.

The ATFCC and Chinese pea core collections were assessed in China for 20 phenotypic traits (phenology, plant architecture, yield components, seed flower and pod types) in a spring sowing at Qinghai in 2006 (Figure 1). Chinese landraces of pea and faba bean were also evaluated for aschchyta resistance in Australia.

The faba bean landraces were assessed for reaction to bean leafroll virus (BLRV) at Tamworth NSW in 2005. Elite pea lines from Australia were screened in China for rust resistance. Pea lines from both the Chinese and ATFCC core collections were evaluated in 2006 for tolerance to salinity in a semi-controlled environment with a 2-replicate pot trial.

Results and Discussion

The dendrogram of the agronomic data illustrates a wide separation of Chinese pea germplasm from the Asian, the Americas, North African, Australasian, European and south-west Asian sources (Figure 1). This suggests Chinese germplasm differs widely from Australian germplasm used in current breeding programs and should provide new opportunities for genetic variation in pre-breeding programs.

New diversity was also found in faba bean landraces collected at Yunnan, China. Screening at the University of Adelaide found 17 accessions resistant to ascochyta blight and subsequently 45 selections have been feed into the national faba bean breeding program (Figure 2).

Figure 1. Dendrogram of ATFCC and China core pea collections based on Nei 78 genetic distance over 20 phenotypic traits.

Screening for resistance to Bean leafroll virus was conducted at Tamworth by the NSW Department of Primary Industries. Several resistant lines from higher altitudes were idwentified and these will be used in Australian breeding programs (Table 1).

Figure 2. Ascochyta screening of faba bean accessions from Yunnan. Ascot is the resistant check (score) and Icarus the susceptible check (score).

Table 1. Origin and virus score1 for bean leafroll virus (BLRV) of faba bean accessions from Yunnan province. Experiments were conducted at Liverpool Plains NSW in 2005.

ATC #

Yunnan Code

Altitude

1st score

2nd score

65255

K07412

 

3.0

3.0

65295

K1398

1403

3.5

3.0

65267

K1370

1848

6.0

4.0

65271

K1374

1296

3.5

4.0

65277

K1380

1904

5.5

5.0

65266

K1369

1708

6.0

5.5

65265

K1368

1779

6.5

6.5

65264

K1367

1937

7.0

7.0

65268

K1371

2127

5.5

7.0

65287

K1390

712

8.5

9.0

1 BLRV score 1=resistance --- 9=susceptible.
2
Yunnan breeding line

Pea germplasm was field screened for resistance to ascochyta by Agriculture WA at Medina in 2006. A few lines showed comparable resistance to the resistant check WAPEA2211 (Table 2) and these will provide new sources of resistance in the national field pea breeding program.

Table 2. Pea accessions from China rated as resistant to ascochyta in a preliminary screening.

Name

Flower Colour1

Growth stage2

Mean score (1-9)3

Origin of accession

         

ATC 2409

W

1

4

China

ATC 4226

W/P

2

4.5

China

ATC 5772

W

2

4.5

Sha’anxi China

ATC 5658

W

2

5

China

ATC 70864

W

0

3

Henan China

ATC 69624

Pk

2

4

Qinghai China

ATC 69114

W

3

5

Yunnan China

WAPEA2211 (check)

Pk

2

5

 

1. Flower colour; P purple, W white, Pk pink.
2. Growth stage; 0= no flowering, 9 almost mature pod.
3. Disease score 0=no disease, 9 most susceptible.
4. Accessions grown unreplicated.

The ACIAR project also provided an opportunity to screen Australian breeding lines for rust resistance in China, a disease which currently does not occur in Australia. A small number of breeding lines were found to be resistant (Table 3), a remarkable outcome given the absence of rust and direct selection for resistance in Australia.

Table 3. Australian pea breeding lines rated as rust resistant1 in China.

Name

Pedigree

Rust nursery 2004

Rust nursery 2005

96-235*5

PS1422/PS700/PS700

1.0

3.0

97-436*1

PS1180/PS1222

1.0

3.0

97-431*1

PS1180/PS1182

3.0

3.0

97-140*3

PS1200/PS1202

3.0

3.0

97-296*3

PS1182/PS1964

3.0

3.0

97-300*2

PS1182/PS1186

3.0

3.0

M219-1-2-1

 

3.0

3.0

PX-96-79-8-1

 

3.0

3.0

Sturt

 

3.0

3.0

1. Rust score 1 = resistant ----- 9 = susceptible.

Salinity screening of 700 accessions including both the ATFCC and China core pea collections was done in pots at DPI Victoria, Horsham (what year?). Although the majority were susceptible (scaled 1=tolerant - 9=susceptible, Ascot=8.5), 59 accessions showed promising levels of tolerance, especially from Sha’anxi province, China (Table 4). Single accessions from Sha’anxi province ,Greece and Albania displayed tolerance scores below 3. These sources of tolerance are currently being used in the national pea pre-breeding program and in genetic studies.

Table 4. Summary of sources of salinity tolerance (score <5,) in 59 pea germplasm by country or province (China) of origin.

Origin

Number of accessions

Sha’anxi China

20

Greece

4

Yunnan China

4

China (country only)

4

Henan China

3

Anhui China

3

Inner Mongolia China

3

Guizhou China

2

Sichuan China

2

Guangxi China

2

Turkey

2

Albania, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Morocco, Afghanistan, United Kingdom, Poland, The Netherlands, Jiangsu China, Qinghai China,

1 from each country

Conclusion

Faba bean and field pea germplasm from China offers new and potentially valuable genetic diversity for national and international breeding programs. These opportunities include new allelic combinations for improved tolerances to biotic and abiotic stresses (such as … give examples). An understanding of the structure and distribution of this intra-specific diversity allows better strategies to be developed for field pea and faba bean pre-breeding and breeding programs in Australia, ultimately leading to improved varieties and greater productivity of Australian agriculture.

Reference

Redden R (2007) Increased productivity of cool season pulses in rain-fed agricultural systems of China and Australia. Final report ACIAR project CS1/2000/035.

This is very valuable work and great to see new genetic sources of resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses of field pea and faba bean in Australia. This work needs to be followed up with an assessment of how useful and effective these genetic resources are being incorporated into our breeding programs. Even identification of rust resistance in field pea is invaluable and offers a good example of pre-emptive breeding. I would encourage the authors to see how effective adoption has been and report this in future updates of their valuable work.

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