Research aims to produce high-yielding, climate-resilient chickpea, lentil and faba bean varieties for WA

Developing high-yielding, climate-resilient chickpea, lentil and faba bean varieties is the goal of a new collaborative international research project led by WA’s Murdoch University. The project will receive $6.1 million in funding from the Grains Research and Development Corporation as part of an $11m multi-partner investment. Professor Rajeev Varshney, project leader and director at Murdoch’s Centre for Crop and Food Innovation, said chickpea, lentil and faba bean production was currently hamstrung by limited genetic diversity, resulting in meagre yield improvement of less than 0.5 per cent each year. The project will provide Australian pulse breeders with access to advanced knowledge, tools and technologies, and novel sources of germplasm to broaden genetic diversity in pulse cultivars and ultimately drive yield gain. “Ultimately, we want to develop high-yielding, climate-resilient chickpea, lentil and faba bean varieties which can deliver greater profitability to growers across Australia,” Professor Varshney said. “With this investment, we will be able to implement modern genomics approaches coupled with huge genetic diversity. “We are partnering with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), a CGIAR global research centre, to import new diverse germplasm for the three target crops. “Once the data from the ICARDA germplasm has been analysed, we will develop DNA catalogues to share with leading Australian pulse-breeding programs.” Professor Varshney said researchers would use genomic prediction, artificial intelligence and speed breeding to identify and stack novel and superior DNA variants for yield and yield-related traits. “By incorporating genetic diversity from other landraces and employing the aforementioned advanced breeding techniques and AI, we believe we can achieve a 1.5 per cent increase in genetic gain, which would be unprecedented,” he said. “We will be collaborating with national pulse-breeding programs, including Chickpea Breeding Australia, the National Lentil Breeding Program based in Victoria, and the University of Adelaide-led National Faba Bean Breeding Program. “Through this investment we will develop PulseBase, a platform for hosting datasets generated through this project alongside other relevant existing datasets accessible for various pre-breeding and breeding programs.” Professor Varshney said yield and improved disease resistance were the key traits researchers would be targeting from international germplasm. Pulses are an important crops for Australian growers because of their benefits to soil fertility and environmental sustainability. “We believe the research and breeding activities could lead to increased uptake of the three crops in non-traditional growing areas, particularly across WA,” Professor Varshney said. “WA was previously a large producer of chickpeas but that has dropped off, so there is scope to establish a stronger pulse industry.” While much of Australia’s pulse breeding happens on the east coast, the research team will undertake phenotyping work in several locations across WA to develop varieties better adapted to the State’s conditions. GRDC genetic technologies manager Camilla Hill said the research was part of a broader uplift in investment in pulses. “Our investment in this research underscores the critical role pulses play in sustainable agriculture and the future of farming in Australia,” Dr Hill said. “The collaboration with international and national partners will enable us to achieve breakthroughs that were previously unattainable.” Project partners include the University of Queensland, University of Adelaide, University of Sydney, Curtin University, and the NSW Department of Primary Industries.