LEGumes for the Agriculture of Tomorrow (LEGATO)
The project has been conceived to promote the culture of grain legumes in Europe by identifying priority issues currently limiting grain legume cultivation and devising solutions in term of novel varietal development, culture practices, and food uses. LEGATO will develop tools and resources to enable state of the art breeding methodology and to exploit fully the breadth of genetic resources available. The project will focus on a small number of key characters not previously explored in depth These topics covered include disease and pest resistance, where in addition to marker development for major fungal and viral pathogens, a focus on emerging insect pests is planned. The impact of end-of-season drought and heat stress on the rhizobial symbiosis, and its consequences for plant performance, will be studied. Two characters that can influence grain legume yield, autofertility and number of flowering nodes, will be investigated. The potential for improving legume nutritional and organoleptic quality by identification of desirable traits and innovative selection methods will be investigated. Promising legume varieties and cropping systems will be tested at a series of pan-european sites to favour the widest posible take-up in agriculture.
General Objectives
Legume breeding and management for sustainable agriculture as well as protein supply for food and feed.
Role of Andalusian partner
To design and assess the sustainability and adoption of novel cropping systems with grain legumes grown as sole crops or intercrops. To determine the effect of novel and diversified grain legume designs and management on production, yield stability, symbiotic performance and impact on biotic stresses in crop rotation sequences with grain legumes.To develop methods for rapid determination of the requirement for inoculation with Rhizobium leguminosarum in faba bean, including strain selection for inoculation.