This plant breeder wants growers to have it all: high-yielding varieties with top agronomic performance, enhanced protein levels and better protein quality.
Would you give up a few bushels of yield to get higher-protein peas? Not likely. Would pulse processors sacrifice some valuable protein so growers could have higher yields? Doubt it.
The best of both worlds would be to have high-yielding pea varieties that also have enhanced protein levels.
Traditionally in pea breeding, however, getting more of something you want meant accepting less of something else. That’s changing, and pulse growers, processors and consumers all stand to benefit.
This goal has been advanced by D.J. Bing in recent years with indirect funding support from Growing Forward 2.
“We initiated this study 16 or 17 years ago, and have been using traditional breeding techniques,” said Bing, Lacombe-based Pulse Breeder with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
Higher protein, with no compromises
Commercial field pea varieties in Canada have an average protein level of roughly 23%. In Bing’s previous work, he identified pea germplasm with around 30% protein. In effect, the protein level in this germplasm is one-third higher than the varieties growers plant today. If Bing could capture this additional protein without sacrificing yield, it would be a huge leap forward for Canadian pea production and a difference-maker for Canada in the global pulse trade.
Before, when Bing boosted protein levels, yield declined and standability, maturity and seed size (bigger being better) tended to suffer as well.
“The reason for the low yield came from two factors,” Bing explained. “One, the germplasm with high levels of protein had poor agronomic traits; and two, protein and starch can work against each other. As you get higher yield you can have more starch but less protein.”
The best breeding lines Bing has developed are P0540-41 and P0540-91, two lines with approximately 28% protein. The downside is that these lines have only 75% of the yield of the best pea cultivars grown today. At present, farmers aren’t rewarded in premium pricing for quality product. This means that yield of high protein varieties must be on par with others in order to be competitive with other commonly grown varieties.
Bing hopes to use P0540-41, P0540-91 and other breeding materials he has developed as a springboard to give growers high-yielding, high-protein pea varieties with first-class agronomic performance.
Looking forward, he proposes to use molecular genetic techniques to improve the effectiveness of improving protein content and protein quality. This would build on breeding materials developed in previous years using traditional breeding.
Overall, Bing believes that pea protein and yields are both heading in the right direction.
“In a breeding program, there two things you try to balance,” Bing said. “You want to keep new varieties coming to market. You also want to carefully develop a germplasm supply and expand it with new genes and new traits. That way, when you need it, you have it.”