Exploration of global faba bean germplasm for agronomic and nitrogen fixation traits

Abstract

The growing regional and global interests in legume crops for cover cropping and sustainable agriculture has provided new opportunities for growers to incorporate faba bean (Vicia faba L.) into their production systems. Much of faba bean's potential, especially in the western United States, is rooted in its high N fixation potential compared with other cultivated legumes. However, faba bean production is currently hindered by existing markets, regional agronomic extension guides, and availability of regionally adapted cultivars. This experiment began the effort to bridge one of the three gaps by evaluating 63 regionally and globally derived plant materials for agronomic and N fixation traits in four environments in California's Central Valley. The experiment observed significant (P ≤ .05) genotype × environment interactions for all faba bean N and agronomic except % of N derived from the atmosphere, harvest index, and 100-seed weight. Further, we found opportunities to leverage global germplasm to increase or decrease the 100-seed weight and days to flowering in locally adapted plant materials. Finally, this experiment identified trait-trait-associations that provide both opportunities and challenges to improving screening efficiencies (e.g., link between N yield and 100-seed weight in Chico2019 [r = 0.57; P ≤ .001] and in Fresno2020 [r = 0.51; P ≤ .001]). This work sets a framework for regional faba bean cultivar development work in the western United States. INTRODUCTIONA deeply intertwined interest in sustainable food systems and compatible specialty markets continues to grow in the western United States which opens the door for the plant breeders to reassess the potentials of once orphaned food crops. Among crop species, legumes have great potential for sustainable agricultural systems due to their value for human consumption Abbreviations: %Ndfa, N derived from the atmosphere.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Potential of Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) for Dual-purpose Vegetable Production and Cover Cropping

“…However, the authors caution that the different potentials of food and cover crop varieties for biomass production should be considered in this comparison. Compared with small and medium-size faba bean cover crop varieties, food varieties are large-seeded and known to produce greater biomass yields-a large driver in biomass N return (Boots-Haupt et al 2022). Genotypic effects on biomass N return were observed among vegetable faba bean varieties in the present study under the single and multiple harvest schemes.…”

Diversity of the Peruvian Andean maize (Zea mays L.) race Cabanita: Polyphenols, carotenoids, in vitro antioxidant capacity, and physical characteristics

“…In contrast, farmers from Castilla reported previous crops in same lands used for maize cultivation including tuberous species, legumes, and cereals (oat, quinoa, barley), the soil is fertilized with manure during the maize growth, and other plant species such as certain legumes ( Vicia faba and Medicago sativa ) are simultaneously grown with maize plants. Legumes including Vicia fava have shown high potential for nitrogen fixation, and other legume species have been already used in combination with grasses to improve the soil nutrient regeneration and its physical characteristics in the Peruvian highlands during the fallow stages ( 40 , 41 ). In addition, some farmers from Caylloma stated out the use of cattle manure or domestic poultry manure, whereas other farmers from Castilla used guinea pig residues besides the cattle manure for soil preparation (information not completely provided).…”

Recent progress and potential future directions to enhance biological nitrogen fixation in faba bean (Vicia faba L.)

“…Currently, the focus in faba bean breeding for enhanced BNF is generally on selecting varieties that have a high BNF or %Ndfa. As discussed, the latter parameter does not indicate the quantity of fixed N. Moreover, there does not appear to be a clear indication of genetic diversity for %Ndfa among faba bean varieties (Boots‐Haupt et al., 2022 ), although this could be as a result of limitations of the method of measurement (Nebiyu, Huygens, et al., 2014 ). The agronomically important parameter, BNF, is additionally influenced by numerous environmental and management factors, which makes it a poor target in breeding programs.…”