Developing Southeastern adapted White Lupin (Lupinus albus) varieties as a multi-purpose cover crop and a grain legume

Commodities

Practices

Winter rainfall on bare
agricultural fields leads to soil erosion and nutrient runoff,
resulting in eutrophication and degraded quality in nearly 40% of
Southeastern waters. Cover crops are those planted between cash
crop seasons to protect and benefit the soil. Cover cropping is
on the rise, and so is the demand for new and improved species
and cultivars bred for the purpose. Concurrently, rising demand
for plant-based proteins and fluctuations in global soybean
prices highlight the need for alternative protein sources. White
Lupin (WL) is a versatile cool-season legume that can fulfill
multiple needs of southeastern cropping systems. WL stands out
among winter legume species; it is among the top N-fixing legumes
and has a unique ability to obtain immobilized phosphorus thanks
to specialized root structures. Currently, no commercially
adapted WL varieties exist for the Southeast US. Fortunately,
significant genetic diversity is available to us to develop one
rapidly.

This project aims to evaluate the
potential to develop, by plant breeding, Southern-adapted WL to
fill both economic and environmental gaps. Our project will
leverage Auburn University’s unique breeding materials in
combination with the USDA collection. In a two-year trial, we
will target traits related to biological nitrogen fixation,
phosphorus acquisition, root structure, grain yield, and
forage/nutritional quality. Lastly, we will use genotyping to
explore WL's genomic diversity and the possibility to use
DNA-markers to develop new varieties rapidly. Ultimately, this
will help identify the most cost- and time-efficient methods to
develop WL cultivars for sustainable Southeast cropping
systems.

Objective 1: Assess WL diversity
for genetic variability in traits related to cover crop and grain
legume performance.

Objective 2: Explore the
potential to improve N-fixation and P-acquisition by evaluation
of root architecture and N-fixation ability.

Objective 3: Study the genetic
diversity of WL and the prospect of using genomics to develop
varieties rapidly.