MORDEN, Man. — Prairie farmers may soon have access to a new drought-resistant legume crop.
Researchers at Agriculture Canada’s research station here hope to submit Canada’s first variety of lathyrus for registration when the Prairie Registration Recommending Committee meets next February.
If approved, it will be about three years before commercial seed becomes widely available.
Lathyrus, dubbed a grass pea, is a member of the sweet pea family.
It has been grown and consumed in parts of India and Asia for centuries, although it was banned in the 1960s because the varieties in use contained neurotoxins which caused permanent crippling in humans if consumed as more than 30 percent of the diet.
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Canadian scientists began studying the plant 15 years ago in search of a legume crop farmers in the brown soil zones of southern Saskatchewan could grow profitably, said research scientist Clayton Campbell.
“There is no alternative crop we have now that is nitrogen-fixing for the brown soil zones,” Campbell said.
Campbell said breeding programs carried out by Canadian scientists have been successful in reducing the neurotoxins to one-tenth of the levels the plant once had.
The new strains have since been incorporated into the Asian breeding programs so that the crop can be consumed safely, he said.
In the meantime, it is developing as a promising diversification option for prairie livestock farmers.
Campbell said the crop yields as well as some pea varieties and contains more protein. The target market in Canada is for livestock feed. He believes it may someday replace soybeans and pea meal in hog rations. “The protein in lathyrus seems to be a more easily digestible protein without processing,” Campbell said.
