The popularity of chickpeas is on the rise in the US.
Not only is it a very versatile and tasty legume, but according to The Atlantic roasted and spiced chickpeas are also a healthier alternative to fried potato chips.
For many more exciting examples of how versatile chickpeas and legumes are check out the article here.
Researchers supported by GRDC have collected and multiplied wild chickpea species located in the Middle East to build a special genetic resource from which important traits are being screened.
Researches are hoping for a possible incorporation into a new disease-resistant, stress-tolerant, high-yielding varieties for Australian growers.
Dr Francis Ogbonnaya, GRDC pulses and oilseeds manager, says the research is likely to lead to an expansion of Australia’s chickpea production area, particularly in regions where opportunities to grow chickpeas have been limited due to the availability of lines tolerant to constraints such as acidic soils, abiotic stresses and disease stresses.
Dr Ogbonnaya explains the importance of chickpeas in Australia, “…they play an important role in terms of overall optimisation and sustainability of our farming systems.”
“They act as a break crop for cereal rotations, they add nitrogen to the soil, assist with weed control and add market diversity.”
The new research aims to help farmers who have previously had difficulty growing chickpeas due to the narrow genetic base of the domesticated chickpea.
In Western Australia 2017, only 5000 hectares were planted to chickpeas because of the lack of chickpeas adapted to acidic soils.
“If growers had access to varieties with acid tolerance – and evidence is showing those traits exist in the wild material we now have available – the area planted to chickpeas in the west could potentially grow to about 500,000 hectares. Growers would have a valuable break-crop alternative to lupins.”
CSIRO ecophysiologist, Dr Jens Berger, says
“I am optimistic that we captured the adaptive diversity needed to improve the performance of cultivated species.”
The wild genetic material is being screened for traits such as tolerance to acidic soils, drought, heat and cold, water use efficiency and resistance to diseases such as ascochyta blight, Phytophthora root rot and root lesion nematodes.
Participating in the work are several of GRDC’s Australian research partners including the Centre for Crop and Disease Management; Murdoch University.
2016 and 2017 were Australia’s largest ever chickpea plantings and has allowed a growth surge of the Pratylenchus thornei root nematode (RLN), commonly found in Queensland and NSW.
Although damaging populations of the parasite can affect wheat yields by up to 80 percent, nematologist Kirsty Owen, University of Queensland, says farmers can follow some steps to reduce impact.
Owen explains that increasing the number of resistant crops in the cropping sequence is the only way to reduce populations.
“One approach is to pick wheat varieties that are tolerant and have the highest level of resistance available to P.thonei because it is when P.thornei populations are reduced to very low levels that crop variety choice is expanded and farm profits can be maximised.”
Kirsty Owen continues to explain that growing chickpeas will increase the populations of P.thornei, which will infest following crops but chickpea varieties may not always suffer yield loss.
The volume of wheat yield loss by P.thornei depends on the population at the time of planting and the tolerance of the wheat variety sown.
Image source: Unsplash.com
A population of two P.thornei to one gram of soil is assumed damaging and will limit the number of varieties and crop types that are likely to be profitable, particularly in the northern region.
“You will have fewer choices in future seasons if the P.thornei population gets to damaging levels.”
P.thornei feeds on and reproduces in the roots of plants, causing yield loss because it restricts plants’ ability to take up water and nutrients.
Experiments by the crop nematology team at Formartin, on the Darling Downs, tested the tolerance and resistance of chickpea varieties compared to wheat varieties.
During 2015-16, varieties or advanced lines of chickpeas were planted into plots with high or low P.thornei populations, prepared the year earlier by growing a moderately resistant wheat variety and a susceptible wheat variety.
The average (2015-16) yield for all chickpea varieties at 2.59t/ha was 6.5 percent lower on the high P.thornei populations. There were no major differences detected between varieties.
Owen says that “the take-home message is that chickpeas are generally moderately tolerant to P.thornei”
After harvest P.thornei populations increased by 1.3 to 4.3 times under chickpeas and ten times the amount under Strzelecki wheat when compared with the population of the moderately-resistant wheat control.
Image source: Unsplash.com
Source: GRDC
For the analysis of one paddock up to 100 hectares, you will require one RHIZO-ID kit for each legume plant species.
For paddocks larger than 100 hectares, we strongly recommend using an additional RHIZO-ID kit for better accuracy. Every kit contains four sample bags, for four individual locations in the paddock.
Previous research has shown that four locations per paddock provide a good overview of the rhizobia situation in that paddock.
We are able to analyse the following rhizobia groups: Group AM/AL (Medic), Group C (Clover), Group FE (Pea, Faba-bean, Vetch, Lentil), Group GS (Lupin spp., Serradella spp.) and Group N (Chickpea).
If your legume host/rhizobia group is not on this list, contact us to discuss the different options.
For more information, watch our short video on the sampling process. We explain how to collect your legumes, and how to use your legume kit.
Order your RHIZO-ID kit online. We proudly ship worldwide.
