b'Young lupin plant. Source Crience White lupin. Source DSVYield increases in the last 20 years have run at about onekeep anthracnose under control if the seed multiplication crops per cent a year, he reports, but it is not a linear developmentare well managed and the correct fungicides are used at the and hard to measure due to variability.correct time.In the past few years, yield gain of new PHR cultivars hasHowever, Deyerler explains increasing lupin acreage will been two to three per cent per year. Barzyk explains yellow lupinmean a rise in anthracnose pressure. Farmers need education gives the lowest yield but has the lowest soil fertility require- on proper cultivation and breeding progress for this disease and ments, whilst white lupin is the opposite with both. other threats. For his part, Deyerler observes there is a significant dif- In the last few years some new diseases and pests have ference in the yield of white lupin compared to varieties frombeen found, mainly viruses and insects, Deyerler adds. In most 20 years ago but cant say what percentage has been gained.of the cases that damage was tolerable, but its not surprising Similarly, Harzic says that in France, because lupin has not beenthat new threats are emerging now. Lupins werent cultivated a major crop species, yield gains have not been tracked. for a long time and now they are.Eckardt reports along with the increasing cultivation of white lupin in Germany, he and his colleagues are hearing about ITS PERFECTLY POSSIBLE TOseveral outbreaks of anthracnose in white lupins. In terms of resistance genes, there are two resistance genes KEEP ANTHRACNOSE IN LUPINavailable, Lanr1 from Australia and our own LanrBo, and we CULTIVATION UNDER CONTROL IFhave incorporated both into our breeding material, Eckardt says. Our strains are up to 90 per cent resistant when LanrBo THE SEED MULTIPLICATION CROPSis included. They show very good resistance until harvest, but yield is still slightly behind the best conventional varieties by ARE WELL MANAGED AND THEabout four to 10 per cent.CORRECT FUNGICIDES ARE USEDRuge-Wehling at JKI explains a few molecular markers for these two resistance genes are available for pre-breeding programs. AT THE CORRECT TIME. A project is currently underway between the JKI and the Bavarian State Institute (LFL) to identify resistance to anthrac-nose in a wide pool of white lupins, she says. More than 100 gene banks have been accessed to check for resistance. In a cur-DISEASE THREATS rent project on yellow lupin, a monogenic dominant resistance Anthracnose is the biggest disease threat, and resistant varietiesto anthracnose was demonstrated. are not registered. Fusarium and additional root diseases are also concerns. SOURCES OF GENETICS Because there are no genetic sources with high anthracnoseDeyerler and his colleagues at Deutsche Saatveredelung con-resistance, Barzyk says that resistance progress for the nexttinue to screen material from different gene banks and regis-decade is difficult to predict.tered varieties from all over the world. Harzic notes that the impact of the disease is less in winterA big part of our material is coming from historic sources in lupin versus spring lupin. Because anthracnose is a seed-bornethe south of Germany, he says. This has been strongly selected disease, farm-saved lupin seed is prohibited by EU-law.and combined with gene bank material and other varieties. As Its perfectly possible, however, says McNaughton, tothe gene bank material is limited, access is basically difficult, but 8IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'