Western Australia
June 14, 2007
19530GM MORATORIUM LIMITS LUPINS
When the current moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops
is lifted, The University
of Western Australia (UWA) has GM lupin lines with superior
seed quality and yield readily available for wider testing and
evaluation in the Western Australian grainbelt.
According to UWA Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis
Director, Professor Craig Atkins, sustaining cereal production
through rotating legumes drove the UWA GM lupin breeding
program, which commenced in 1992.
“We developed a very successful genetic engineering program for
narrow-leafed lupin, including herbicide (Basta®) and bean
yellow mosaic virus (BYMV) resistant varieties,” he said.
“Narrow-leafed lupin is Australia’s major pulse crop, with
around one million hectares planted and more than 90 per cent of
that in Western Australia.
“It is the best adapted pulse for deep, coarse-textured, sandy,
acid soils in the grainbelt, yielding on average one tonne per
hectare and significantly contributing to subsequent wheat,
barley and canola crops due to its residual nitrogen and other
benefits,” Professor Atkins said.
However, lupins are prone to severe yield restriction as a
consequence of fungal and viral diseases and conventional
breeding has progressively introduced significant resistance
levels.
The Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA)
operated as a Co-operative Research Centre transformation
facility at UWA from 1992 to 1999, engineering GM lupin lines to
introduce resistance to herbicides and viral and fungal
diseases, with promising results for BYMV resistance.
“Three lines carrying this synthetic resistance gene are immune
to BYMV infection, but are still in the early stages of
development, with further testing needed to confirm their
resistance,” Professor Atkins said.
Another limitation to narrow-leafed lupin yield potential is
inadequate and incomplete weed control, particularly of annual
ryegrass.
“The first group of BASTA® resistant GM lupins was developed in
1993 and narrow-leafed lupin field trials for BASTA® resistant
lines in the Merrit variety were initiated in 1996 in
partnership with the Grains Research and Development Corporation
and continued until 1998,” Professor Atkins said.
“One line selected for possible commercial development had a
very high level of herbicide resistance, out yielded the parent
cultivar Merrit and showed no change in grain composition.
“Unfortunately, commercial development was blocked due to
intellectual property restrictions at that time,” he said.
Other CLIMA experiments reduced flower abortion and improved
yield stability, altered plant architecture and patterns and
improved seed development rates and grain composition.
“More recently, in collaboration with Canberra CSIRO Plant
Industry colleagues, we sought to improve grain quality,
specifically protein content, by introducing the sunflower seed
albumin (SSA) gene.”
Methods developed for narrow-leafed lupin genetic
transformations were modified and successfully used to transform
a range of other pulse crops, including chickpea, lentil, field
pea,
faba bean and albus lupin.
“A number of these methods are continuing as research projects
to determine their use as possible sources of traits for lupin
improvement,” Professor Atkins said.
The UWA Institute of
Agriculture Director, Professor Kadambot Siddique said
seedstocks of all GM lupin lines generated through CLIMA and
since have been maintained in secure PC2 storage at UWA.
“Although limited field trials can be conducted, perceived
public disquiet about transgenic plants, along with the State
Government moratorium on commercial scale trials and therefore
the inability to release new lines, has reduced funding for GM
lupin research,” he said.
”The programs that existed have now been scaled back to almost
nothing.
“However, with renewed global and Australian interest in GM
crops, it’s time we revived research and development on GM lupin
traits of economic significance to WA’s farming community,”
Professor Siddique said.
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(L to
R) CSIRO Plant Industry Senior Research Officer, Dr Jens
Berger, UWA Institute of Agriculture Director, Professor
Kadambot Siddique, Grains Research and Development
Corporation Board Chairman and Mt Barker farmer, Terry
Enright, UWA Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis
Director, Professor Craig Atkins and WA Department of
Fisheries Senior Aquaculture Researcher, Dr Brett
Glencross at a Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean
Agriculture forum at UWA. |
UWA has a proud 70 year history
of teaching and research in agriculture and natural resource
management. The Faculty of Agriculture was established at UWA in
1936 and the Institute of Agriculture in 1938 to provide
critical research facilities and staff for effective training of
professional agricultural graduates and scientists at
post-graduate level. UWA recently re-established the Institute
of Agriculture, with Professor Kadambot Siddique as Director, to
strengthen the cohesion of agriculture teaching and research
within and between UWA Faculties. The Institute will co-ordinate
existing strengths of the Faculty in teaching and research in
agricultural science, while advancing UWA’s reputation in
agriculture by enhancing links with industry, farmer groups, the
community and national and international organizations. |
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