Imagine trying to upgrade a smartphone, but using tools from the 1990s; that is how legume breeding has been. This effort creates a modern toolkit to help breeders develop hardier, high-yielding beans and peas more quickly. It also fixes the red tape and business rules that make it hard for new plant varieties to reach the market.
Legume breeding has been underfunded and inefficient, leading to low-yield crops and a lack of competitive varieties. This limits the economic potential of legume-based farming and the supply chain for food and feed.
A multispecies genotyping tool, phenotyping protocols, and a training platform for breeders and industry actors.
If you are a seed breeder dealing with high costs and slow development cycles — this project developed cost-effective breeding tools and genotyping methods that speed up the creation of high-quality varieties.
If you are a feed mill operator dealing with inconsistent protein quality in forage — this project developed improved varieties for 7 forage crops that increase the nutritional value of animal feed.
If you are a food manufacturer dealing with a lack of diverse, high-yield grain legumes — this project developed 7 grain crop varieties designed for better food processing and higher yields.
The project develops cost-effective multispecies genotyping tools and improved phenotyping protocols to lower the expense of identifying desirable traits. Based on available project data, these tools are designed to make breeding programs more affordable.
Yes, the project includes 10 industry partners and focuses on creating a platform for the seed, food, and feed industries. It aims to deliver proofs of concept specifically for breeders to use in commercial settings.
Based on available project data, the project focuses on improving the regulatory environment for variety registration and recommendation to facilitate the delivery of genetic progress to the seed industry.
It specifically targets the economic and regulatory environment to make variety registration and recommendation more efficient. This helps new varieties move from the lab to the field faster.
The project runs from 2023-10-01 to 2028-09-30. Experimental work is ongoing, with fully exploitable results expected after 2 or 3 years of experimental work.
The consortium is highly diversified with 35 partners across 18 countries, showing strong European integration. With a 29% industry ratio (10 companies), there is a significant commercial bridge, though the heavy presence of 14 research institutes and 9 universities indicates the project is still heavily rooted in the R&D phase.
Contact the Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (INRAE) in France.
Contact us to connect with the BELIS network of legume breeders.
