Breeding Winter Hardy Annual Cover Crops: Cereal Rye and Winter Peas

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Commodities

• Agronomic: peas (field, cowpeas), rye

Practices

• Crop Production: cover crops

Cereal rye (Secale cereale) is the most popular and winter hardy cover crop. Alternating cover crop species in a crop rotation diversifies the ecosystem services from cover crops. Winter pea (Pisum sativum L.) is a popular winter annual legume cover crop due to its ability to fix nitrogen. However, current cultivars exhibit inconsistent winter survival in the northeast US. This study will conduct genome-wide association studies on winter peas to discover pea germplasm with cold temperature and freeze-thaw tolerance and locate genetic markers for cold tolerance. The identified germplasm and genetic markers can be utilized for accelerated breeding of winter hardy peas adapted to northeast US in the future.

In the northeast US, corn and other major cash crops are harvested late in the fall, leaving a small planting window for winter cover crops. When planted late, winter cover crops, including cereal rye, often experience below-freezing temperatures on most nights during germination and in their early growth stages. This can limit the establishment, ground cover, and biomass production of cereal rye. Selecting the cereal rye accessions for cold temperature germination and vigor can lead to the development of a cultivar with a higher level of winter hardiness than current cultivars. Such cultivars can be planted later in the fall without reducing their cover and overall benefits. These projects will benefit northeast farmers of the US who are planting winter peas and cereal rye, either for cover crops or any other purposes.

1. Discover pea germplasm with cold temperature and freeze-thaw tolerance for breeding winter annual cover crop varieties.
2. Locate genetic markers for cold temperature tolerance in winter pea to accelerate breeding of winter hardy pea cultivars.
3. Identify efficient methods to breed cereal rye for cold temperature germination rate and vigor and develop rye cultivars with improved growth at late fall planting dates in the Northeast US.