Anthracnose is a major disease of lupins in Western Australia (WA). The disease wiped out the WA albus lupin industry in 1996 and since then, anthracnose resistance has been a major focus for WA lupin breeding. In an endeavour to find a source of resistance to anthracnose, all available germplasm in WA was screened against anthracnose in New Zealand over the summer of 1997 and 1998, and resistance was identified in Ethiopian landraces. The resistance was present in many Ethiopian landraces within a close geographical distribution, suggesting a similar genetic basis of resistance. Crosses were made between the resistant landraces and agronomically superior lines. The progeny were tested for anthracnose resistance, yield, seed quality, and other agronomic characters. The most superior line, Andromeda, was released for commercial production in WA. It was developed from an F 3 -derived single-plant selection of a cross between an anthracnose-resistant landrace P27175 from Ethiopia and a well adapted but highly susceptible WA breeding line 89B10A-14. Andromeda has a significantly higher level of resistance to anthracnose than the previous cv. Kiev Mutant and is recommended in the medium-to low-rainfall area of the northern wheatbelt of WA. Further breeding effort has resulted in significant improvement in the level of resistance within the WA breeding program, and early generation lines are more resistant than advanced lines. The best resistant lines are, however, in a late flowering background and only an incremental improvement has been achieved in combining early flowering with anthracnose resistance, which seems to be a complex process.

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A spatiotemporal model has been developed to simulate the spread of anthracnose, initiated by infected seed, in a lupin field. The model quantifies the loss of healthy growing points of lupin in all 1-m(2) subunits of a field throughout a growing season. The development of growing points is modeled as a function of temperature using a 1-day time step, and disease-induced compensatory growth is accounted for. Dispersal of spores is simulated explicitly using Monte Carlo techniques. Spread of spores occurs during rainfall events on a 1-h time step. The distance traveled by spores is partially dependent on wind speed and is generated by adding the values selected from half-Cauchy distributions. The direction of travel of the spores is influenced by wind direction. The model has been employed to produce a theoretical assessment of damage from disease in two environments at five levels of seed infection. It was calculated that in a susceptible lupin cultivar with a 0.01% initial seed infection, anthracnose would cause approximately 15% loss of healthy growing points in a high rainfall environment in Western Australia. In a low rainfall environment, similar damage would be unlikely even with a much higher (1%) level of seed infection.

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White lupin (Lupinus albus L.) is an important grain legume crop in Australia. The anthracnose incursion in the mid-1990s wiped out the white lupin industry in Western Australia (WA). Since then, incorporation of anthracnose resistance has been a major focus in white lupin breeding. After a series of experiments and targeted breeding in WA, high-yielding anthracnose-resistant genotypes were developed. One of these lines, Amira, was released in 2012 as a replacement for the then-benchmark variety Andromeda. Amira is high-yielding and early-maturing and it has substantially improved resistance to anthracnose compared with Andromeda. Its yield and grain quality are similar to Kiev Mutant and it will be suitable for growing in parts of the Northern Agricultural Region of WA where anthracnose risk is moderate to low. With the adoption of this new variety, reliable production of white lupin can recommence in WA. The growing season in WA is characterised by terminal drought, and early flowering is as important as anthracnose resistance. However, combining these traits was difficult and their combination was not achieved at a desired level in earlier work. The incorporation of the early-flowering trait from a different genetic source from France demonstrated that it is possible to combine these traits at an appropriate level. There was no genetic linkage between the two traits, and consequently, new genotypes with earlier phenology and higher levels of resistance than Amira were developed. The combination of early flowering and anthracnose resistance represents a breakthrough that will significantly improve the adaptation and profitability of white lupin production in WA.