Achievements in breeding autumn-sown annual legumes for temperate regions with emphasis on the continental Balkans

Abstract

Annual legumes represent one of the basic elements of the agriculture of Serbia. Until recently, only annual forage legumes such as pea or vetches were autumn-sown in Serbia and other neighbouring regions of the continental Balkan Peninsula. During the last decade, the first crucial steps in the development of autumn-sown grain legumes were made, with emphasis on dry pea, faba bean and dual-purpose vetches. The winter forage pea cultivars developed in Serbia are generally characterised by prominent winter hardiness and a rather extended growing season, usually beginning with sowing in early October and ending either by cutting for forage production in late May or harvesting seeds in mid-July. One of the strategic advantages of recently released cultivars of autumn-sown dry pea is their significantly improved earliness. The Serbian winter dry pea cultivar Mraz, newly registered in Serbia and developed from hybrids between French and Serbian autumn-hardy materials, is regularly at least a week earlier than winter barley, so many farmers will not have to choose between pea and cereals due to limited harvesting resources. The initial material for pre-breeding autumn-sown faba bean in the conditions of Serbia consisted of both collected local landraces of Serbia and populations from France and Germany. The preliminary results of their agronomic performance showed that they have a great potential for high grain yield in the conditions of Serbia. Promising results in breeding winter hardy cultivars were achieved with several vetch species, as well as with lentil and grass pea, and will be continued with more species including Medicago truncatula.

Short communication. Assessing relationships between seed yield components in spring-sown field pea (Pisum sativum L.) cultivars in Bulgaria by correlation and path analysis

“…Seed yield in field pea is a quantitative trait affected by many genetic and environmental factors (Ranjan et al, 2006;Espósito et al, 2009) such as temperature, precipitations or soil type and moisture. Therefore, a priority of modern conventional field pea breeding programmes is searching for the donors of desirable traits able to answer all the challenges of specific environment (Mehandjiev et al, 2006;Mikić et al, 2011a). Contemporary breeding programs use field pea genotypes with a wide genetic base and a diversity of phenological, morphological and economic traits.…”

Agronomic characteristics related to grain yield and crude protein content in common vetch (Vicia sativa) accessions of diverse geographic origin

“…Common vetch in Serbia today is cultivated on about 7500 ha (Mihailović et al 2005). The only institution in Serbia dealing with breeding common vetch is the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops in Novi Sad, with 10 registered autumnand spring-sown cultivars to date in Serbia and abroad (Mikić et al 2011a). It collaborates with the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Novi Sad, which curates the Novi Sad Vicia collection, with 21 vetch species and about 1500 accessions of diverse geographic origin and status ).…”

Relationships among Quantitative Traits and Seed Yield in Vetch (Vicia sativa L., Vicia villosa Roth.)

“…Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth.) is a legume primarily used for forage, hay, silage and green manure (Duke, 1981;McLeod, 1982), and is often grown with wheat, oat, or rye (McLeod, 1982). Goar (1934) mentioned that hairy vetch is more drought resistant than other vetches, yielding well where other species fail.…”

“…Goar (1934) mentioned that hairy vetch is more drought resistant than other vetches, yielding well where other species fail. It is well adapted to organic cultivation and grows well on a wide range of soil types -on sandy, nitrogen depleted and lightly acidic soils (McLeod, 1982;Dastikaitė et al, 2009). V. villosa provides a good soil cover and is used as a weed control means for alternative cropping systems (Fujii and Araki, 2000;Fujii, 2001;Zhou and Everts, 2004;Sheaffer and Seguin, 2003;Anugroho et al, 2009) and as a soil amendment; it is among the best of the legumes in its ability to produce in low fertility or acid soils (Mcleod, 1982;Hargrove, 1986;Sheaffer and Seguin, 2003).…”

“…One of the most important steps in developing novel common vetch lines with stable seed yield is adequate use of the available germplasm and proper selection of the parents for hybridization (Mikić et al, 2011;Osman et al, 2013).…”