Faba Bean

Abstract

Vicia faba L. is an old world grain legume, combine harvested for food and feed in Europe, North and East Africa, Asia, and in the northwest of South America. It is an annual, diploid plant ( x = 6), with a large genome (1C ∼ 13 pg of DNA), large seeds (0.3 up to >2 g per seed), and a protein content of about 30%. Being a small agricultural species, a relatively large producer in Europe is the United Kingdom with more than 150000 ha. On the global scale, China is the largest producer (39% of global area of 2.6 million hectares). Important fungal diseases are Botrytis fabae , Ascochyta fabae , and Uromyces viciae‐fabae . Important pests are Aphis fabae and Bruchus rufimanus . Broomrape ( Orobanche crenata ) is an important parasitic weed in the Mediterranean basin and the Nile valley. Traditional breeding is hampered by the partial allogamous, entomophilous reproduction, with degrees of outcrossing between 20% and 75%, depending on the actual genotype and the environment. The faba bean cannot be crossed with related species, and it is known as recalcitrant crop as to in vitro technologies. Agrobacterium ‐mediated transformation of Vicia faba resulted in regeneration of first transgenic plants carrying the aspartate kinse III from E. coli and the 2S‐albumin 8 from sunflower. In addition to the optimization of the regeneration protocol, knowledge gained from the model legumes Medicago truncatula and Lotus japonicus should enable further progress in Vicia faba breeding.

Association of Shoot and Root Responses to Water Deficit in Young Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Plants

“…Faba bean ( Vicia faba L.) is an important crop in semi-arid regions around the world, but it is considered to be sensitive to moisture stress (Loss et al, 1997a). Escape from terminal drought is used in many semi-arid environments (Loss et al, 1997b; Link et al, 2008), and osmotic adjustment (OA) has not yet been shown (Khan et al, 2010; Duc et al, 2015), but avoidance of transient drought is challenging to investigate because of the range of severities and timings that it can take. Wide variation in shoot and root responses to water deficit has been found at the flowering (Khan et al, 2007; Khazaei et al, 2013a; Khazaei et al, 2013b) and vegetative stages (Belachew et al, 2018).…”

“…On the other hand, higher stomatal conductance is positively correlated with higher biomass or yield gain (Blum, 2015; Gosa et al, 2018), as stomatal closure hinders carbon assimilation. Although early closure of stomata is one of the mechanisms by which faba bean deals with drought stress (Link et al, 2008), it often arises from the inability of roots to access moisture from the soil (Blum, 2009; Tuberosa, 2012). Hence, combinations of traits are important to improve the yield of faba bean and other crops for drought-affected areas (Khan et al, 2007; Krishnamurthy et al, 2010).…”

Genetic Diversity of Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Based on Local Knowledge and Inter Simple Sequence Repeats in North-East Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia

“…The second one is Vicia faba equine that has medium seed size. The third, Vicia faba minor, has smaller seed size with round shapes (Link et al, 2008). Each botanical types contains different varieties known by different common names.…”

ILB 938, a valuable faba bean (Vicia faba L.) accession

“…The presence of stipule spot pigmentation was proposed as an early morphological marker indicating wild-type 'coloured' flowers (tannin-containing faba bean), where there is a black spot on each wing petal and dark vein markings on the standard petal (Picard, 1976). The absence of the pigmentation was considered as the corresponding early morphological indicator for the white-flower, zerotannin trait (Link et al, 2008). ILB 938, however, carries a rare allele (ssp1) that decouples pigmentation in flowers from that in stipules, so it has colourless stipules and coloured flowers (Supplementary Figure S1, Khazaei et al, 2014a).…”