Australia
November 5, 2012

Source: GRDC Gound Cover newsletter

A suite of high-yielding pulse varieties have been released by Pulse Breeding Australia (PBA) for planting in 2013.

The agronomic traits of the new varieties – a chickpea, a faba bean, two lentils and a field pea – were briefly outlined in the September–October edition of Ground Cover. More details about their key attributes and the regions to which they are adapted are now available (Table 1).

(From left) PBA team: Mark Sweetingham, (DAFWA), Kristy Hobson (NSW DPI), Alan Meldrum (Pulse Australia), Brondwen MacLean (GRDC breeding programs) and Ian Pritchard (DAFWA) at the launch of the new chickpea variety PBA Striker at the Mingenew-Irwin site in WA.

In addition to the table published here, PBA coordinator Fleur Winter is encouraging growers and agronomists to look at the management brochures for each of the new varieties, which were recently published on the PBA webpage (www.grdc.com.au/pba).

The brochures provide suggestions for appropriate agronomic practices, disease management and information on disease ratings for each variety as well as a list of industry contacts for sourcing further advice.

Full article and Table 1