July 9, 2003

Australian lupin growers deliver most of their 800,000 tonne annual production into stockfeed markets, where prices have been tempered by the grain’s low level of methionine.

Methionine is an essential protein building block, which animals need in greater supply than can be provided by lupins. When feeding lupins, intensive livestock producers must generally add methionine supplements.

In a bid to eliminate the need for supplementary methionine, and to capture more of the feed dollar for lupin growers, Grains Research & Development Corporation (GRDC) supported research has developed new, high-methionine lupin cultivars.

They are scheduled for Western Australian field trials next year, pending approval from the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator.

Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA) researcher, Dr Steve Wylie, who will help co-ordinate WA trials, said adding methionine to lupins would allow livestock producers to access significant growth advantages.

GRDC supported trials by Drs Colin White, TJ Higgins and Linda Tabe of CSIRO found wool growth and live weight increased eight per cent in sheep fed the newly developed lupin.

The new variety would be a valuable ruminant feed, increasing its export potential for cattle and its worth as an on-farm sheep feed, according to Dr Tabe, of CSIRO Plant Industry.

“It would also be a valuable feed for monogastric animals such as pigs, where producers could scale back methionine supplements to take fuller advantage of the generally cost-effective lupin feed option,” she said.

The new grain was developed by inserting the gene for a high methionine sunflower albumin into lupins. This could not have been achieved by conventional breeding because of the lack of a suitable gene in species closely related to lupin.