Diversity and Agronomic Performance of Lupinus mutabilis Germplasm in European and Andean Environments

Abstract

The introduction of Lupinus mutabilis (Andean lupin) in Europe will provide a new source of protein and oil for plant-based diets and biomass for bio-based products, while contributing to the improvement of marginal soils. This study evaluates for the first time the phenotypic variability of a large panel of L. mutabilis accessions both in their native environment and over two cropping conditions in Europe (winter crop in the Mediterranean region and summer crop in North-Central Europe), paving the way for the selection of accessions adapted to specific environments. The panel of 225 accessions included both germplasm pools from the Andean region and breeding lines from Europe. Notably, we reported higher grain yield in Mediterranean winter-cropping conditions (18 g/plant) than in the native region (9 g/plant). Instead, North European summer-cropping conditions appear more suitable for biomass production (up to 2 kg/plant). The phenotypic evaluation of 16 agronomical traits revealed significant variation in the panel. Principal component analyses pointed out flowering time, yield, and architecture-related traits as the main factors explaining variation between accessions. The Peruvian material stands out among the top-yielding accessions in Europe, characterized by early lines with high grain yield (e.g., LIB065, LIB072, and LIB155). Bolivian and Ecuadorian materials appear more valuable for the selection of genotypes for Andean conditions and for biomass production in Europe. We also observed that flowering time in the different environments is influenced by temperature accumulation. Within the panel, it is possible to identify both early and late genotypes, characterized by different thermal thresholds (600°C–700°C and 1,000–1,200°C GDD, respectively). Indications on top-yielding and early/late accessions, heritability of morpho-physiological traits, and their associations with grain yield are reported and remain largely environmental specific, underlining the importance of selecting useful genetic resources for specific environments. Altogether, these results suggest that the studied panel holds the genetic potential for the adaptation of L. mutabilis to Europe and provide the basis for initiating a breeding program based on exploiting the variation described herein.

Investigating the potential of Andean lupin as a lignocellulosic feedstock for Europe: First genome‐wide association study on Lupinus mutabilis biomass quality

“…Even though PCoA1 and PCoA2 explained only 17.63% of the total genetic variance, this grouping corroborates previous findings. A similar separation pattern within this GWAS panel was already inferred from phenotypic observations (Gulisano et al, 2022) and is now confirmed in a genomic relationship matrix based on genotype information for each individual marker (VanRaden, 2008).…”

“…The broad variation in yield and composition of biomass encountered in the GWAS panel confirms the high potential of germplasm collections as important breeding resources for the improvement of biomass quality. Large ranges of variation in biomass yield across environments can be attributed to the effect of different environmental conditions on L. mutabilis development (Gulisano et al, 2022). This is confirmed by the dissection of phenotypic variation for biomass components across trials which sees the effect of the environment as the largest on these traits (Table 1).…”

“…Phenotyping of morphological and phenological parameters was conducted on the six central plants of each plot, to gather data on biomass yield (fresh weight), dry matter (DM) content and yield of agricultural residues (total dry biomass yield-dry seed yield). Detailed information about field trial design and data collection are described in detail in Gulisano et al (2022).…”

“…In rotation with cereal crops, the ability to actively enrich the soil through nitrogen fixation and phosphates mobilization can reduce the need for nitrogenous fertilizers, provide valuable disease breaks and boost cereal yields (Gladstones, 1970). The recent evaluation of over 200 accessions of L. mutabilis across Europe has revealed a high biomass production in Central-North european conditions, particularly for indeterminate types of Andean lupin (Gulisano et al, 2022). Uses of Andean lupin as green-fodder or silage have been investigated also in combination with other crops such as pea (Mikić et al, 2013) or maize (Austria, LIBBIO), but they are discouraged due to the presence of bitter alkaloids.…”

A genome wide association study to dissect the genetic architecture of agronomic traits in Andean lupin (Lupinus mutabilis)

“…Reduced representation sequencing and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing was performed as previously described in Gulisano et al (2022a). Briefly, genomic DNA was isolated from young grinded L. mutabilis leaves (∼20-400 mg, freeze dried material) using acetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) method (Doyle and Doyle, 1987) as described in Petit et al (2020).…”