Breeding autumn-sown annual legumes for temperate regions

Abstract

Annual legumes are one of the fundamental crops of the agriculture of Serbia. Until recent times, only pea (Pisum sativum L.) or vetches (Vicia L.) were autumn-sown in Serbia and other neighbouring Balkan countries. During the last decade, the first seminal steps in the development of autumn-sown grain legumes were made, with emphasis on dry pea, faba bean (Vicia faba L.) and dual-purpose vetches. The winter forage pea cultivars developed in Serbia are generally characterised by prominent winter hardiness and a rather extended growing season, usually beginning with sowing in early October and ending either by cutting for forage production in late May or harvesting seeds in mid-July. One of the strategic advantages of recently released cultivars of autumn-sown dry pea is their significantly improved earliness. The Serbian winter dry pea cultivar NS Mraz, newly registered in Serbia in 2011 and developed from hybrids between French and Serbian autumn-hardy materials, is regularly at least a week earlier than winter barley, so many farmers will not have to choose between pea and cereals due to limited harvesting resources.