CGN grain legumes collection

The collection consists of nearly 1800 accessions of Pisum, Vicia and Lupinus. The material originated mainly from the former Foundation for Agricultural Plant Breeding (SVP), some accessions of the horticultural peas were however received from the former Institute for Horticultural Plant Breeding (IVT).

The Pisum, the Vicia faba and to a lesser extent the Lupinus collections have been extended with material from the Centre for Plant Breeding and Reproduction Research (CPRO-DLO), with accessions received from several breeding companies from the Netherlands and with some landraces from two East European genebanks. The grain legume collection has not a high priority in the CGN system and receives less emphasis.

Pea (Pisum)

The collection mainly consists of material of P. sativum. The collection includes over 349 landraces, 47 from Europe including only four from the Netherlands (Grauwe erwt, Noord-Hollandse Rozijnenerwt, Boerengrauw and Wijker Vale). The other European landraces are mainly from Eastern and Southern Europe. More than 250 landraces are from Asia (N=168) and Africa (N=88). This material is rather primitive and not well adapted to conditions in Northwestern Europe. It includes 66 accessions from Pakistan; this material was collected with Dutch participation (Hashmi et al. 1981).

Eighty-eight accessions have been collected in Ethiopia, of which 72 in 1950/51 by W.A. Archer, Beltsville Agricultural Centre, USA. The cultivars (N=509) form the greater part of the collection and consist of dry peas for animal feeding and peas for human consumption. The latter group includes over 140 cultivars. Most of the cultivars are of European origin and only a limited number are from North America and Australia. There are 86 accessions classified as research material, particularly from Europe and the USA. The population type of a relative large group of accessions (51) is not defined. Furthermore the country of origin of 120 accessions is not known.

Faba bean (Vicia faba)

The faba bean collection consist of 728 accessions of the cultivated species V. faba. There are 394 landraces in the collection, largely from Asia (N=187) and Africa (N=119). 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 78 landraces from the sub-centre of origin in Ethiopia. Only 61 landraces from Europe are found in the collection, including the old Dutch landrace Oldambster. The faba bean collection includes 228 cultivars. The accessions are mainly from Europe (N=195), particularly from the Netherlands (N=55), Germany (N=59), United Kingdom (N=23), France (N=16) and Russia (N=11). Old Dutch cultivars in the collection are Mansholt's Wierboon (1892), Adrie (1919) and Wierboon C.B. (1931). Only a few cultivars from Asia, Africa and America are present in the collection. Ten accessions belong to the 'population type' research material. The country of origin and the population type of respectively 49 and 93 accessions are not known.

Lupine (Lupinus)

This small collection includes only 68 accessions of the species L. albus and L. luteus. In the collection are only two landraces of Eastern Europe and 19 cultivars from The Netherlands, Germany and Poland. The other material mainly consists of research material of the former Foundation for Plant Breeding (SVP) and Poland (Van Soest and Boukema 1995).

Regeneration and characterization

Faba beans and lupines are regenerated in plots spatially isolated in winter cereal fields with a distance of approximately 80 m between the plots, in tunnels or in isolation cages in the greenhouse The size of the plots is 8 m2, and normally 200 seeds are directly sown in the field. Peas are sown directly in the field without isolation. Per accession 100 seeds are sown against a fence. During the growing season the accessions are both visually and by means of serological tests monitored for Pea Seed-borne Mosaic Virus (PSMV). Plants detected with PSMV infections are removed entirely. During the regeneration, accessions of P. sativum and V. faba have been characterized for respectively 14 and 13 different agro-morphological traits, using CGN minimal descriptor lists (Dijkstra and Van Soest 1986). The lists partly derived from the IPGRI and UPOV descriptor lists and was developed after consultation several breeders of grain legumes. Prof. J. Kraft (USDA/ARS, Prosser WA, USA) evaluated several Pisum accessions of Pakistan for resistance against three diseases ( Fusarium solani f. sp. pisi, race 2 of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. pisi and Aphanomyces euteiches). All evaluation data can be downloaded via the CGN website.

The two Lupinus species have only been characterized for two traits; plant type and flower colour.

References

Dijkstra, H. and L.J.M. van Soest (1986). Descriptor list Pulses; lupines, peas and faba beans. CGN, Wageningen. 8p. Hashmi, N.I., L.J.M. van Soest, A.R. Rao, M. Mesken and Zahoor Amad (1981). Collecting in Baluchistan, Pakistan. Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter 47: 31-35.

Van Hintum, Th.J.L. en L.J.M. van Soest (eds) (1995). De Genenbank Onderweg. Verleden, heden en toekomst van het CGN. Centrum voor Genetische Bronnen, Nederland (CGN). Centrum voor Plantenveredelings- en Reproduktieonderzoek (CPRO-DLO), Wageningen. 51p.

Van Soest, L.J.M. en I.W. Boukema (eds) (1995). Diversiteit in de Nederlandse Genenbank. Een overzicht van de CGN collecties. Centrum voor Genetische Bronnen Nederland (CGN). Centrum voor Plantenveredelings- en Reproduktieonderzoek (CPRO-DLO), Wageningen. 126p.

Van Soest, L.J.M. and H. Dijkstra (1996). Current status of the CGN small grain legumes collection. In: Report of a Working Group on Legumes. ECP/GR-IPGRI, Rome, Italy, pp. 57-60.