Crusader has been bred to stay standing when other blue variety peas tend to be flat on the ground at harvest time - a huge advantage for farmers - and for exporters wanting a quality product. The upright habit also influences yield because fewer peas are lost on the ground.

New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research Ltd have just released Crusader to replace its earlier blue pea cultivar, Hadlee. Crusader stocks are still being bulked up and some seed supplies will be available for the Year 2000 planting season.

Brian Wilson, manager of the head licensee company Peter Cates Ltd, says Crusader's quality advantages include much less staining and bleaching, fewer particles of dirt becoming mixed in with the peas, and a "much superior" canning performance to most blue pea cultivars.

On the yield front, Crusader has also performed very well in early plot testing with yields 10 to 15% up on Hadlee.

The semi-leafless pea has such an upright growth it even leaves a stubble after harvest, he says.

Crusader also has excellent disease-fighting ability. Crop & Food Research pea breeder, Adrian Russell, says the new cultivar is the first semi-leafless blue pea bred and released in New Zealand with resistance to Pea Seed-borne Mosaic Virus. It is also resistant to Fusarium wilt, race 1 but is susceptible to Pea Powdery Mildew.

Crusader suits a wide range of soil types and either dryland or irrigated conditions.

Crusader has been developed for the export food market where it will be used as either a whole or split grain.

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N2097