Forage yield in some legume crop wild relatives

Abstract

Since the abundance of genera and species within the family of legumes (Fabaceae Lindl. (syn. Leguminosae Jass. u Papilionaceae Giseke)), there is a large number of annual legume crop wild species having a great significance in improving their cultivated relatives. Species, such as red-yellow (Pisum sativum Sm.) or Ethiopian (Pisum abyssinicum A, Braun) peas play an important role of introgressing the resistance to pea weevil (Brachus pisorum L.) and numerous diseases to cultivated pea (Pisum sativum L..). On the other hand, there is a certain number of annual legume crop wild relatives that showed a considerable potential for forage production. Two of them is large-flowered vetch (Vicia grandiflora Scop.) and narrow-leafed vetch (Vicia sativa subsp. nigra (L.) Ehrh.), both characterized by extreme winter hardiness, earliness and, in many populations, high and quality forage yield. The main obstacle in successful pre-breeding activities in these two wild vetches major problem that needs to be solved is indetermined stem growth and non-uniform maturity, leading to low and economically non-reliable seed yield.