The grandfather of the North American chickpea industry has released a new variety named after his granddaughter.
Sierra is a large-seeded kabuli that has better resistance to ascochyta blight than Sanford, Dwelley and Evans, three other kabuli lines developed by Fred Muehlbauer.
The first commercial plantings of foundation seed will happen in Washington and Idaho this spring, said the United States Department of Agriculture crop breeder who works for the Agricultural Research Service division.
Muehlbauer anticipates Sierra will make up half of the large-seeded kabuli acres in those two states when it is made commercially available to growers in 2004.
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A few years later, he expects it will account for nearly 100 percent of that type of kabuli.
The new variety will likely make its way into Canada in a couple of years but it will be protected, which means a royalty will be charged for growing it.
The big selling feature is Sierra’s disease package. It is resistant to both patho-types of ascochyta blight found in North America compared to varieties like Sanford and Dwelley, which are resistant to only one.
That doesn’t mean blight won’t continue to be a problem. Varieties like Sierra resist the disease, but are not immune to ascochyta, Muehlbauer said.
“They will get the disease. It’s just that it takes longer for the disease to develop and in most cases you can get a crop from them.”
Sierra yields are two to five percent higher than Sanford and Dwelley and it matures three days earlier. It produces a cream-coloured seed about the same size as a Dwelley seed.
Adjusting the colour was an important issue with buyers, who feel the cream-coloured seed looks more appetizing.
“The industry wanted them to be lighter, so they’re lighter,” said Muehlbauer, who also created Myles, one of the most popular desi-type chickpeas grown in Canada.
Despite Sierra’s advantages, Canadian growers shouldn’t fret about a surge in large-sized kabuli production south of the border, Muehlbauer said.
Prices for large-seeded kabulis haven’t been that attractive and small-seeded varieties are the only type eligible for loan deficiency payments under the U.S. farm bill.
“If they’re going to grow chickpeas there’s going to be a tendency for them to grow the small chickpeas rather than the big ones that are not covered by that program.”
