An anthracnose resistant albus lupin ( Lupinus albus) in grower hands by 2006 will be the result of a $240,000 COGGO investment with the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia in albus lupin breeding.
Before the anthracnose fungus struck in 1989, albus lupin was a promising crop for loamy soils in the Chapman Valley , Mingenew and Mullewa areas, the Avon Valley and, potentially, on other well drained loamy soils. A valuable human consumption market had been developed by The Grain Pool of WA and the seed was being recognised as a premium stock feed.
All that changed overnight when Kiev Mutant, the industry’s only cultivar, proved highly susceptible to the new disease – lupin anthracnose - and, to make matters worse, the wild blue lupin proved to be a prolific source of infection for adjacent crops. From a promising industry to no industry took just one year.
COGGO is investing on behalf of its members to ensure that resistant lines capable of re-igniting the albus industry are available to growers in the shortest possible time.
Now, with COGGO investment, lines from crosses between Kiev and an anthracnose resistant Ethiopian parent are approaching release. Seed of the most promising lines was grown at Avondale in 2003, has undergone summer seed increase, and is now being bulked-up by COGGO members for release in early 2006.
More on Lupin Anthracnose
The Western Australian albus lupin industry, based on the susceptible Ukrainian variety Kiev Mutant, collapsed in 1996 as a result of an outbreak of the fungal disease anthracnose (Colletotrichum gleosporium). Prior to this the industry had rapidly expanded to 35,000 ha servicing a premium paying human consumption market Egypt and North Africa, and making this a profitable crop for producers.
Production was concentrated in the high-medium rainfall Chapman Valley and Greenough shires but the crop had expanded on other red loams in the low rainfall zones, east to Mullewa and south to Perenjori. Albus lupins were also attracting interest on on similar soils throughout WA, notably the Avon Valley .
A source of resistance was identified by the Department of Agriculture’s Dr Mark Sweetingham in 1997 in several land races collected in Ethiopia by Dr Clive Francis of CLIMA. Line P27174 appears to have a level of resistance similar to Kalya, and should be suitable for areas to the east of a line from Mingenew to Nabawa. Genetic analysis suggests that the resistance is simply inherited in a manner consistent with it being due to a single recessive gene. The experience from anthracnose resistance in narrow-leafed lupin is that the same gene in different genetic backgrounds will give rise to phenotypes which vary in degree of resistance and similar similar variation in phenotypes can be expected for lines carrying the single recessive gene in L. albus. Other sources of resistance have been identified in Portuguese and Ukrainian lines, however, the genetic basis of these resistances is not yet known.
Through investment in this project, COGGO gains equity to existing populations based on crosses between the Ethiopian and Portuguese land races specified above and Kiev Mutant and other albus cultivars that are not subject to PBR (Vladimir, Minori, Esta). The land races are bitter and late flowering and have slightly smaller seed. Early generation selection for sweetness and earliness is conducted by standard procedures in the glasshouse or screen house at South Perth .
The first crosses were made in 1997 and progeny are being multiplied, tested for anthracnose at Medina and lines with good resistance, suitable phenology and growth habit are evaluated for yield and agronomic performance in the field.
Based on intensive research there is a detailed understanding of the level of anthracnose resistance required to grow albus lupins in different environments in WA. The major risk factors are location (i.e. rainfall zone), proximity to blue lupins and the level of seed infection and their impact is also well understood at a quantitative level.
From this we can predict that an albus cultivar with similar resistance to:
Merrit will be required for commercial production in low rainfall environments such as along the Mullewa – Morawa –Perenjori axis.
Kalya would be suitable as far west as the Carnamah – Mingenew- Nabawa line as well as the Avon Valley and parts of the Great Southern.
Tanjil would be required for the high rainfall Chapman Valley and Walkaway districts.
