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Agricultural crops and their wild progenitors are excellent candidates for ecophysiologal research because germplasm collections are often extensive and well described, and in its dissemination the crop may explore new habitats. The advent of high-resolution climate models has greatly improved our capacity to characterise plant habitats, and study species’ adaptive responses. The yellow lupin (Lupinus luteus) is ideal because it evolved as a Mediterranean winter-annual in relatively high-rainfall coastal regions, but was domesticated as a summer crop in temperate central Europe. Currently the crop is being developed for Mediterranean south-western Australia, raising an interesting ecophysiological problem: is it more appropriate to concentrate on wild material from Mediterranean habitats, which are likely to be more similar to the target environments, or on European germplasm domesticated for temperate summer cropping? Lupinus luteus collection sites across the natural and domesticated distribution range were characterised by calculating site-specific bioclimatic variables and habitat types defined using multivariate analysis. Germplasm was evaluated in 2 field trials measuring a range of characters describing plant growth, phenology, architecture, and productivity. The earliest phenology and highest vigour and productivity were recorded in domesticated material from central Europe, characterised by short but unstressful growing seasons with reliable rainfall, long day-lengths, and rapidly rising vegetative-phase temperatures levelling out after flowering. Mediterranean habitats were classified by altitude, climate, and growing-season length. Early, productive germplasm came from warmer/low elevation sites with inconsistent rainfall and stronger terminal drought. Germplasm from low temperature/high elevation sites with high, relatively frequent rainfall had late phenology and low growth rates, early vigour, seed yield, and harvest index. Distinct habitats within the distribution range of L. luteus have selected for ecotypes with different phenologies and growth rates, which strongly influence plant architecture, fecundity and yield. It is suggested that variable responses to vernalisation and differences in seed size are important in determining these traits. European germplasm has many of the terminal drought-avoiding characteristics required in a productive Mediterranean ideotype, but may lack drought tolerance, which is likely to be under stronger selection pressure in more stressful Mediterranean habitats.

The impact of infestation by bluegreen aphid, Acyrthosiphon kondoi, cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora, and/or green peach aphid, Myzus persicae, on grain production of narrow-leafed lupin (Lupinus angustifolius) and yellow lupin (Lupinus luteus) was assessed at 4 sites in the Western Australian grainbelt. Yield losses caused by naturally occurring aphids on 4 cultivars of narrow-leafed and 2 cultivars of yellow lupins were measured by applying the systemic insecticide imidacloprid as a seed dressing and/or as foliar sprays throughout the plant growth phase and compared with untreated control plots. The extent of damage caused by aphids varied greatly but was significantly influenced by lupin cultivar, and yields for the same treatment combination varied between geographical locations. Bluegreen aphid was the most abundant species wherever large colonies of aphids developed. Yellow lupin Wodjil was the most infested and suffered severe losses in grain yield, whereas narrow-leafed lupin Kalya was largely resistant to aphids and there were negligible losses in grain production from plots not treated for aphids. In a fifth experiment, a single foliar spray of the insecticide pirimicarb controlled abundant aphids and increased yield by as much as 95% (0.65 t/ha) in Wodjil. Lupin growers need to be aware of the potential losses aphids can cause and that applying foliar insecticidal sprays to susceptible cultivars can prevent such losses.