Promising results from the first year of a three-year study have convinced researchers there is huge potential for two pulse crops in Alberta.
Alberta Agriculture is looking for something to replace the shrinking pea acreage in the Parkland and Peace River regions of the province.
The search led the agency to fababeans and lupins, the top two nitrogen-fixing pulses, which also happen to be well adapted to northern Alberta’s climate.
“We feel that both crops will be well above the 100,000 acre mark,” said Ken Lopetinsky, pulse research agronomist with Alberta Agriculture.
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Diseases like ascochyta and mycosphaerella blight have wreaked havoc upon Alberta’s peas. Heavily infected crops collapse creating significant harvesting problems.
That should not be a problem with either of the two new options under consideration. They both exhibit excellent standability characteristics, with lupin stems being exceptionally rigid.
“This stuff is wire,” said Lopetinsky.
Extensive field testing of the two crops in 2004 demonstrated successful yet highly variable seed production in a growing season that began with cold soils and finished with a harvest plagued by rain, snow and frost.
Narrow-leafed lupin yields ranged from 400-1,400 kilograms per acre. Zero-tannin fababean yields ranged from 400-2,800 kg per acre.
Both results were deemed a “tremendous success” in a difficult year.
But significant agronomic and marketing challenges must be overcome before either can become commercially viable.
The biggest obstacle is identifying and registering suitable herbicides.
“Basagran, which works on a lot of pulse crops, killed the bejesus out of lupins,” Lopetinsky told people attending an inoculant forum in Saskatoon.
Odyssey and Pursuit Ultra might work for weed control in fababeans but getting a minor use registration for the pulses can be a long and arduous task.
Crop emergence also appears to be an issue with lupins. Researchers attempted to test five different seeding rates ranging from 50 to 250 plants per square metre but were able to achieve only 30 to 65 percent of their target populations.
Lopetinsky figured the problem has to do with cold soil conditions or fusarium disease.
Blister beetles, the adult version of wireworms, caused some damage and there was also significant pod shattering at harvest because of the rigid lupin stem, which caused up to an 11 percent loss in yield.
One of the biggest agronomic concerns for fababeans is that while they outperformed pea and lupin crops in good growing environments, their yields were poor in areas that experienced reduced rainfall.
“Once we get into a drought we know those yields collapse,” said Lopetinsky.
Then there are the potential marketing problems.
The intention is to replace soybeans or peas with low tannin fababeans in swine rations. The crop is priced about the same as peas but has a higher cost of production. Growers would need a bonus in the range of 20 cents per bushel over peas to entice them to grow the crop.
Selling lupins presents less of a challenge. Lopetinsky said there is already ample demand for the product in the aquaculture industry.
Fish feed manufacturers have indicated they would buy all the lupins Alberta could grow to supply the $3 billion salmon and trout feeding industry.
Alberta Agriculture controls the plant breeder’s rights on two lupin varieties. The government agency is trying to find a home for Arabella and Rose to begin the certified seed process.
Three new low-tannin fababean varieties are in co-op trials in the crop registration system.
The goal is to have commercial production of both crops in Alberta by 2007.
