Recent field pea yield increases in Western Australia of up to 20 per cent have been achieved thanks to new varieties and improved crop management.

Along the way, field pea has emerged as one of the few viable grain legume options available to farmers, following a decline in the chickpea industry, due mainly to the ravages of Aschochyta blight.

Field pea has been grown in Western Australia for more than a century, but only in the last few years has a stable industry been established, with plantings peaking at about 70,000 hectares.

Research, supported by growers and the Federal Government via the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), involving field pea breeding at the Western Australia Department of Agriculture, has focused on the short season environments of Western Australia.

Supervised by the Department’s Dr Tanveer Khan, the project is part of the GRDC’s Australian

Co-ordinated Pea Improvement Program and was aimed at the release of black spot resistant, short season cultivars from introduced germplasm and Western Australia crosses.

New varieties with greater yield and yield stability should help expand the field pea industry in Western Australia.

King and Magnet varieties were released in 1997, followed by Cooke and Helena in 1999.

A high yielding variety, King suited areas with extended growing seasons, while Magnet was the first semi-leafless line released for Western Australia. Cooke had excellent milling and cooking qualities and Helena had promising yield and adaptation qualities.

Yield increases of 10 to 20 per cent were achieved and there was potential to improve.

During the five year project, more than 700 crosses were made, more than 5000 genetically fixed lines developed and more than 125 advanced breeding lines entered into regional crop variety testing.

From more than 500 crosses involving black spot resistance, there was evidence that black spot resistance and agronomically desirable characteristics could be recombined and improved through a system of recurrent selection and crossing.

A wide choice of conventional and semi-leafless types, dun and white round seed types and recombinant lines for black spot resistance, is now available from the fixed lines.

Western Australia growers also benefited by the release of varieties, such as Parafield, from the SA component of the GRDC’s Australian Co-ordinated Pea Improvement Program. Another high yielding dun type field pea, Dunwa, was released by the Western Australia Department of Agriculture in 2001.

The Crop Doctor is GRDC Managing Director, Professor John Lovett, Tel 02 6272 5525