Western
Australia
October 13, 2004
Western
Australian faba bean growers are set to benefit from a new phase
of the National Faba Bean Improvement Program, which will
develop new varieties for the western and southern agricultural
regions of Australia.
Better varieties could lead to a rapid
expansion of the industry, with land suitable for faba bean
production in WA estimated at 150,000 hectares.
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Scaddan
grower Mark Wandel said new varieties generated by the
Program and its WA lead agency,
Centre for Legumes
in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA), would be a
huge improvement for Western Australia’s faba bean
industry.
His
family has grown them since the mid 1980s and has 900
hectares in this year.
Disease, primarily ascochyta blight and chocolate spot,
was the main limiting factor to faba bean production on
their property.
“Faba
bean production has huge potential in Western Australia,
especially in southern areas where they can be grown
well. Trials in the area have yielded up to three and a
half tonnes and our’s look like they could go two tonnes
if we get a soft finish,” Mr Wandel said. His family’s
‘dream bean’ would have high disease resistance and pods
that set in cooler weather. |
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Scaddan graingrower Mark Wandel pictured
on October 5 surveying a crop of Fiesta faba beans, sown
on 750mm row spacings. |
Kerry Regan of the Department of Agriculture
and CLIMA will supervise the
Grains Research and Development Corporation project.
According to Ms Regan, faba beans are
potentially an important industry for Western Australia.
Western Australian faba bean production has
involved three varieties, Fiord, Ascot and Fiesta.
“While they have allowed a profitable
industry to be established, their limited resistance to the
major diseases, chocolate spot and ascochyta, has restricted
expansion of the industry,” she said.
Fiesta, however, had shown good field
resistance to chocolate spot and attractive seed coat colour in
a number of trials and farmers’ crops in Western Australia.
“The breeding program will provide a much
needed confidence boost for growers, with resistance to
chocolate spot and ascochyta a priority for any new varieties.
“Greater yield stability and higher seed
quality, to better satisfy Middle East markets, will also be
targeted so Western Australian growers can better compete in a
global export market.
“There are exciting developments in the
variety pipeline, which, when combined with better management
packages, promise substantial advantages to Western Australian
faba bean growers,” Ms Regan said.
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