CGN grain legumes collection

Composition

Pea

The collection of well over 1000 accessions mainly consists of material of Pisum sativum. Most of the accessions are peas for human consumption, but a small part of the accessions are dry fodder beans. The collection consists for one third of land races, of which 50 from Europe and a few from the Netherlands. The European landraces are mainly from Eastern and Southern Europe. The biggest part of the landraces originate from Asia and Africa. This material is rather primitive and not well adapted to conditions in Northwestern Europe. A set of accessions were collected in Pakistan, and this material was collected with Dutch participation (Hashmi et al. 1981). And other set of accessions has been collected in Ethiopia in 1950/51 by the American W.A. Archer. The cultivars form roughly half of the collection. The most cultivars are of European origin and only a limited number are from North America and Australia. There is also a small amount of accessions classified as research material, particularly from Europe and the USA. A set of accessions from Pakistan evaluated by Porf. J. Kraft for resistance against three diseases (Fusarium solani, Fusarium oxysporum and Aphanomyces euteiches). These evaluation data can be downloaded via the CGN website.

Faba bean

The faba bean collection consists of more than 700 accessions of the cultivated species Vicia faba. More than half are landraces, largely from Asia and Africa. These landraces were collected in the centres of origin of the Faba bean, particularly in a number of countries of the Middle East such as Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Turkey. Also present are a number of landraces from the sub-centre of origin in Ethiopia. A small part of the landraces originate from Europe, including the old Dutch landrace Oldambster. About one third of the accessions are cultivars. The accessions are mainly from Europe, particularly from the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Russia. Old Dutch cultivars in the collection are Mansholt's Wierboon, Adrie and Wierboon C.B.. Only a few cultivars from Asia, Africa and America are present in the collection.

Bean

The bean collection consists of two species, namely Phaseolus vulgaris and Phaseolus coccineus. The second species is runner bean and within the first species fall the many varieties of bean like snap beans, flat beans, dry beans etcetera. Originally CGN did not start a Phaseolus collection and the collections that were present in Wageningen were brought to the CIAT in Colombia. In 2023 the first bean accessions were included in the collection of CGN, and since then the collection is increasing steadily. The collection that went to CIAT is returned to the Netherlands, in particular the accessions with Dutch provenance. Just after the second world war F.E. Nijdam collected a big part of what was grown in the Netherlands at that time. Nijdam asked students of agricultural schools to hand in beans that were grown at home, and the collected landraces and cultivars were subsequently classified and described. Unfortunately this original collection does not exist anymore, but in the 80’s of the 20^th century A. Zeven created a permanent collection of part of these beans. Next to the old Dutch material newer Dutch cultivars are added to the collection. From outside the Netherlands old varieties from Albania and North-Macedonia, that are still grown locally in villages, are added to the collection. With these two countries CGN is collaborating in order to preserve the mentioned material for the future, and to make it available for use in research and breeding.

Lupin

This small collection includes almost 70 accessions of the species L. albus and L. luteus. In the collection there are only a few landraces of Eastern Europe and a number of cultivars from The Netherlands, Germany and Poland. The main part of the collection consists of research material from the SVP and from Poland (Van Soest and Boukema 1995).

Regeneration

Faba beans and lupines are cross pollinators and are regenerated in isolation tunnels. The seeds are sown in trays and germination is done in an unheated greenhouse. Germinated plants are transplanted into big pots, with 2 plants per pot. In an isolation tunnel 100 plants are put and during flowering pollinating insects are introduced.

Peas are sown directly in the field without isolation measures because pea is a self-pollinator. Per accession 100 plants are used. A trellis is used for the plants to grow on. Peas are sensitive to virus and the crop needs to be strictly checked for virus.

Bean is a self-pollinator and can also be grown without isolation measures. The exception is runner bean that is a cross-pollinator and does need to be grown in isolation cages. Because there are only few runner bean accessions another option is to grow only 1 accession per location, in between normal bean accessions, circumventing the need for isolation measures. The seeds are sown in trays and germination is done in an unheated greenhouse. Bean is a heat-loving crop and can, in contrary to the other legumes, only be grown outside towards the summer, after the last cold snap of spring. Per accession 70 plants are planted, and when the accession is of the climbing type, bamboo canes are placed for the plants to grow onto. In case of runner beans, pollinating insects need to be introduced into the isolation during flowering.

Beans and faba beans are sensitive for infestations of aphids and bean weevils. Aphids need to be controlled during cultivation. After harvest when bean weevil is found in the seeds, the whole seed lot needs to be put in a freezer at -20°C for 1 week, to kill all insects between and in the seeds. The bean weevil is more damaging than the broadbean weevil as is can have multiple reproductive cycles during storage of dry beans.