Overcoming the barriers of combining early flowering and anthracnose resistance in white lupin (Lupinus albus L.) for the Northern Agricultural Region of Western Australia

Abstract

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.

A high-density consensus linkage map of white lupin highlights synteny with narrow-leafed lupin and provides markers tagging key agronomic traits

“…In addition to brevis , other recessive genes conferring early flowering phenotype ( floridus , festinus , and contractus ) were described in WL germplasm; however, their relation to Kiev Mutant or P27174 genes remains unknown 58 . Recent investigation of a world WL collection identified several accessions with considerably reduced time to flowering, including Start (cultivar) and P28283 (French breeding line) 29 , 59 . Crossing of Start and P28283 with late flowering lines revealed that early flowering in these lines is controlled by two complementary dominant genes Ef1 and Ef2 , different than those of Kiev Mutant and Ultra 59 .…”

“…As with many legume crops 28 , the rate of genetic improvement of WL has been slow. Combining early flowering and anthracnose resistance traits in WL took decades of traditional breeding and finally yielded in the release of just two cultivars carrying an incremental improvement of anthracnose resistance 10 , 29 . Modern breeding tools are required to accelerate the rate of genetic improvement.…”

Avaliação da resistência à antracnose em germoplasma de Lupinus spp.

“…As cultivares de L. angustifolius, resistentes à epifitia inicial não se mostraram resistentes à nova epifitia (Sweetingham et al, 1998a). Os testes de inoculação de germoplasma para avaliação de resistência iniciaram-se em França em 1986 (Gondran et al, 1999), 'Prima', 'Lolita' (Galdames e Peñaloza, 1999), 'Cruz Alta' (Baier e Linhares, 1991), 'LA128' , 'Andromeda' (Adhikari et al, 2009), 'Amira' (Adhikari et al, 2013) e linhas de melhorador sul-africanas não identificadas (van der Mey et al, 2000); em L. angustifolius, uma linha não identificada (Galdames e Peñaloza, 1999) e as cultivares 'Borweta' (Semaškienė et al, 2008), 'Wonga' e 'Tanjil' (Sweetingham et al, 1998a;Cowling et al, 2000). No entanto, nenhuma destas linhas foi considerada como totalmente resistente.…”

“…As linhas consideradas mais resistentes poderão ser integradas em programas de melhoramento visando a incorporação de maiores níveis de resistência em cultivares. Estudos recentes conduzidos na Austrália permitiram a identificação de resistência em variedades tradicionais etíopes de L. albus (Adhikari et al, 2009(Adhikari et al, , 2013.…”

Localisation of Loci Involved in Resistance to <i>Diaporthe toxica</i> and <i>Pleiochaeta setosa</i> in White Lupin (<i>Lupinus albus</i> L.)

“…Disease resistance to P. setosa and D. toxica is of paramount importance for the L. albus breeding programs which are developing high-yielding, high quality cultivars for stock-feed and human consumption. The other very important disease resistance needed in most L. albus growing regions is anthracnose resistance (caused by the fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides) [56]. Fortunately, resistance to anthracnose has been identified in Ethiopian landraces, and successfully introgressed into adapted backgrounds in Australia.…”