Pod Shattering in Grain Legumes: Emerging Genetic and Environment-Related Patterns

Abstract A reduction in pod shattering is one of the main components of grain legume domestication. Despite this, many domesticated legumes suffer serious yield losses due to shattering, particularly under arid conditions. Mutations related to pod shattering modify the twisting force of pod walls or the structural strength of the dehiscence zone in pod sutures. At a molecular level, a growing body of evidence indicates that these changes are controlled by a relatively small number of key genes that have been selected in parallel across grain legume species, supporting partial molecular convergence. Legume homologues of Arabidopsis thaliana silique shattering genes play only minor roles in legume pod shattering. Most domesticated grain legume species contain multiple shattering-resistance genes, with mutants of each gene typically showing only partial shattering resistance. Hence, crosses between varieties with different genes lead to transgressive segregation of shattering alleles, producing plants with either enhanced shattering resistance or atavistic susceptibility to the trait. The frequency of these resistance pod-shattering alleles is often positively correlated with environmental aridity. The continued development of pod-shattering-related functional information will be vital for breeding crops that are suited to the increasingly arid conditions expected in the coming decades.

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Comparison of winter cereal, oilseed and grain legume crops on the Darling Downs, Queensland

Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture ◽

10.1071/ea9860339 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 26 (3) ◽

pp. 339 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

J Harbison ◽

BD Hall ◽

RGH Nielsen ◽

WM Strong

Keyword(s):

Faba Bean ◽

Acid Soil ◽

Nitrogen Concentration ◽

Heavy Rain ◽

Grain Legumes ◽

Grain Legume ◽

Winter Cereal ◽

Grain Yields ◽

Pod Shattering ◽

Cereal Grain

Performances of 18 winter cereal, grain legume and oilseed crops were compared on the Darling Downs in 1976 using cultural practices appropriate for each. All crops, except for faba bean, which had a lower population than desired, established satisfactorily. The season was characterised by twice the average number (55) of heavy frosts, although only safflower appeared to be adversely affected. Heavy rain around maturity caused lodging of the prostrate crops lathyrus and field pea, some pod shattering of most grain legumes, and delays in machine-harvest, due to waterlogging, of almost all crops. Barley and canary seed were affected by powdery mildew during August and early September but recovered after rain in mid-September. Later rainfall promoted the diseases Alternaria carthami in safflower and Puccinia sp. in vetch, reducing grain yields in both crops. Except for chickpea, all grain legumes nodulated effectively. Lathyrus produced more larger ( >3 mm diameter) nodules than any other grain legume while lentil and vetch had many small (<2 mm) nodules. At floral initiation, more herbage DM was produced by triticale and oats than all other crops except barley and fieldpea. The most productive grain legumes were fieldpea, lathyrus and lentil. All oilseeds produced similar quantities of herbage DM, which were greater than those for grain legumes but less than those for cereals. Nitrogen concentration in herbage increased in the order: cereals < oilseeds <grain legumes. Machine-harvested grain yields of cereals were generally higher than those of oilseeds or grain legumes but delayed harvest caused large grain losses for many oilseeds and grain legumes. Pod shattering and crop lodging caused large yield losses in rapeseed and field peas, respectively. Lupins (cv. Ultra) produced more harvestable grain (1.6 t/ha) than any other grain legume, rapeseed, safflower or canary seed. An even higher grain yield (3.9 t/ha) was measured at a nearby site on an acid soil. Of the other grain legumes, lentil and lathyrus appear to be poorly adapted for this region while faba bean and vetch appear moderately well suited.

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NONPROTEIN NITROGEN CONTENTS OF SOME GRAIN LEGUMES

Canadian Journal of Plant Science ◽

10.4141/cjps81-074 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 61 (3) ◽

pp. 515-523 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

N. W. HOLT ◽

F. W. SOSULSKI

Keyword(s):

Amino Acids ◽

Molecular Weight ◽

Grain Legumes ◽

Field Pea ◽

Grain Legume ◽

Low Molecular Weight ◽

Field Bean ◽

Legume Species ◽

Nonprotein Nitrogen ◽

Nitrogen Contents

The seeds of nine grain legume species were analyzed for nonprotein nitrogen (NPN), amino acids (AA) in NPN, total nucleic acids and nucleic acid nitrogen (NAN). The range in amounts of low molecular weight NPN as determined by ultrafiltration was 16–75 mg/g N for the nine species. The range in NAN was very small and the average of all species was 23.4 mg/g N or 1.05 mg/g seed. Arginine, alanine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid and glycine were the major AA constituents in the ultrafiltrate NPN of six samples of field pea, fababean and field bean. Twenty percent of the nitrogen (N) of the NPN was in protein AA in fababean while the values were 59–75% for field pea and field bean. The remainder along with the NAN was equal to 3.6–5.7% of the seed N.

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Light interception and utilization of four grain legumes sown at different plant populations and depths

The Journal of Agricultural Science ◽

10.1017/s0021859604004241 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 142 (3) ◽

pp. 297-308 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

S. AYAZ ◽

B. A. McKENZIE ◽

D. L. McNEIL ◽

G. D. HILL

Keyword(s):

Seed Yield ◽

Grain Legumes ◽

Plant Population ◽

Radiation Absorption ◽

Grain Legume ◽

Legume Species ◽

Higher Plant ◽

Plant Populations ◽

Area Index ◽

Canopy Development

Canopy development, radiation absorption and its utilization for yield was studied in four grain legume species Cicer arietinum, Lens culinaris, Lupinus angustifolius and Pisum sativum. The grain legumes were grown at different plant populations and sowing depths over two seasons in Canterbury, New Zealand. The green area index (GAI), intercepted radiation, radiation use efficiency (RUE) and total intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) increased significantly (P<0·001) with increased plant population. Narrow-leafed lupin produced the highest maximum biomass (878 and 972 g/m2, averaged over all populations during 1998/99 and 1999/2000, respectively) and intercepted more radiation (600 and 714 MJ/m2, averaged over all populations during 1998/99 and 1999/2000, respectively) than the other three legumes. In all four species, in both trials, the highest plant populations reached their peak GAI about 7–10 days earlier than legumes sown at low populations. Cumulative intercepted PAR was strongly associated with seed yield and crop harvest index (CHI).The RUE increased (from 1·10 to 1·46 and from 1·04 to 1·34 g/MJ during 1998/99 and 1999/2000, respectively) as plant population increased and was highest in the highest yielding species (e.g. 146 and 1·36 g/MJ for narrow-leafed lupin in both experiments). The larger leaf canopies produced at the higher plant populations reduced the extinction coefficient (k).The results suggest that in the subhumid temperate environment of Canterbury, grain legume species should be selected for the development of a large GAI. This should maximize PAR interception, DM production and, consequently, seed yield.

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Peer-Reviewed Literature on Grain Legume Species in the WoS (1980–2018): A Comparative Analysis of Soybean and Pulses

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11236833 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (23) ◽

pp. 6833 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marie-Benoît Magrini ◽

Guillaume Cabanac ◽

Matteo Lascialfari ◽

Gael Plumecocq ◽

Marie-Josephe Amiot ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Research Output ◽

Research Priorities ◽

Grain Legumes ◽

Crop Diversity ◽

Grain Legume ◽

Legume Species ◽

Research Activity ◽

Legume Crop ◽

Scholarly Publications ◽

Lock In

Grain-legume crops are important for ensuring the sustainability of agrofood systems. Among them, pulse production is subject to strong lock-in compared to soya, the leading worldwide crop. To unlock the situation and foster more grain-legume crop diversity, scientific research is essential for providing new knowledge that may lead to new development. Our study aimed to evaluate whether research activity on grain-legumes is also locked in favor of soya. Considering more than 80 names grouped into 19 main grain-legume species, we built a dataset of 107,823 scholarly publications (articles, book, and book chapters) between 1980 and 2018 retrieved from the Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics) reflecting the research activity on grain-legumes. We delineated 10 scientific themes of interest running the gamut of agrofood research (e.g., genetics, agronomy, and nutrition). We indexed grain-legume species, calculated the percentage of records for each one, and conducted several analyses longitudinally and by country. Globally, we found an unbalanced research output: soya remains the main crop studied, even in the promising field of food sciences advanced by FAO as the “future of pulses”. Our results raise questions about how to align research priorities with societal demand for more crop diversity.

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Feed legumes for truly sustainable crop-animal systems

Italian Journal of Agronomy ◽

10.4081/ija.2017.880 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Paolo Annicchiarico

Keyword(s):

Unit Area ◽

Research Effort ◽

Grain Legumes ◽

Protein Yield ◽

White Lupin ◽

Grain Legume ◽

N Fixation ◽

Genetic Progress ◽

High Feed ◽

Feed Protein

Legume cultivation has sharply decreased in Italy during the last 50 years. Lucerne remains widely grown (with about 12% of its area devoted to dehydration), whereas soybean is definitely the most-grown grain legume. Poor legume cropping is mainly due to the gap in yielding ability with major cereals, which has widened up in time according to statistical data. Lucerne displays definitely higher crude protein yield and somewhat lower economic gap with benchmark cereals than feed grain legumes. Pea because of high feed energy production per unit area and rate of genetic progress, and white lupin because of high protein yield per unit area, are particularly interesting for Italian rain-fed environments. Greater legume cultivation in Europe is urged by the need for reducing energy and green-house gas emissions and excessive and unbalanced global N flows through greater symbiotic N fixation and more integrated crop-animal production, as well as to cope with ongoing and perspective raising prices of feed proteins and N fertilisers and insecurity of feed protein supplies. The transition towards greater legume cultivation requires focused research effort, comprehensive stakeholder cooperation and fair economic compensation for legume environmental services, with a key role for genetic improvement dragged by public breeding or pre-breeding. New opportunities for yield improvement arise from the ongoing development of cost-efficient genome-enabled selection procedures, enhanced adaptation to specific cropping conditions via ecophysiological and evolutionary-based approaches, and more thorough exploitation of global genetic resources.

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Drought Stress in Grain Legumes: Effects, Tolerance Mechanisms and Management

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy11122374 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 2374

Author(s):

Marium Khatun ◽

Sumi Sarkar ◽

Farzana Mustafa Era ◽

A. K. M. Mominul Islam ◽

Md. Parvez Anwar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drought Stress ◽

Drought Tolerance ◽

Association Studies ◽

Stomatal Closure ◽

Grain Legumes ◽

Grain Legume ◽

Developmental Cycle ◽

Genome Wide Association Studies ◽

Tolerance Mechanisms ◽

Drought Tolerant

Grain legumes are important sources of proteins, essential micronutrients and vitamins and for human nutrition. Climate change, including drought, is a severe threat to grain legume production throughout the world. In this review, the morpho-physiological, physio-biochemical and molecular levels of drought stress in legumes are described. Moreover, different tolerance mechanisms, such as the morphological, physio-biochemical and molecular mechanisms of legumes, are also reviewed. Moreover, various management approaches for mitigating the drought stress effects in grain legumes are assessed. Reduced leaf area, shoot and root growth, chlorophyll content, stomatal conductance, CO2 influx, nutrient uptake and translocation, and water-use efficiency (WUE) ultimately affect legume yields. The yield loss of grain legumes varies from species to species, even variety to variety within a species, depending upon the severity of drought stress and several other factors, such as phenology, soil textures and agro-climatic conditions. Closure of stomata leads to an increase in leaf temperature by reducing the transpiration rate, and, so, the legume plant faces another stress under drought stress. The biosynthesis of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is the most detrimental effect of drought stress. Legumes can adapt to the drought stress by changing their morphology, physiology and molecular mechanism. Improved root system architecture (RSA), reduced number and size of leaves, stress-induced phytohormone, stomatal closure, antioxidant defense system, solute accumulation (e.g., proline) and altered gene expression play a crucial role in drought tolerance. Several agronomic, breeding both conventional and molecular, biotechnological approaches are used as management practices for developing a drought-tolerant legume without affecting crop yield. Exogenous application of plant-growth regulators (PGRs), osmoprotectants and inoculation by Rhizobacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi promotes drought tolerance in legumes. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs), genomic selection (GS), marker-assisted selection (MAS), OMICS-based technology and CRISPR/Cas9 make the breeding work easy and save time in the developmental cycle to get resistant legumes. Several drought-resistant grain legumes, such as the chickpea, faba bean, common bean and pigeon pea, were developed by different institutions. Drought-tolerant transgenic legumes, for example, chickpeas, are developed by introgressing desired genes through breeding and biotechnological approaches. Several quantitative trait loci (QTLs), candidate genes occupying drought-tolerant traits, are identified from a variety of grain legumes, but not all are under proper implementation. Hence, more research should be conducted to improve the drought-tolerant traits of grain legumes for avoiding losses during drought.

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Elevated CO2 and Temperature Resetting the Expression of Resistance, Pest Incidence, Geographical Distribution and Physiology in Insect-pests of Grain Legumes: A Review

Indian Journal of Agricultural Research ◽

10.18805/ijare.a-5799 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

B.L. Jat ◽

P. Pagaria ◽

A.S. Jat ◽

H.D. Choudhary ◽

T. Khan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Geographical Distribution ◽

Elevated Co2 ◽

Crop Production ◽

Insect Pests ◽

Abiotic Factors ◽

Grain Legumes ◽

Grain Legume ◽

Nutritional Content ◽

High Co2 ◽

Elevated Co2 And Temperature

The most important factor that affects the crop production in terms of nutritional content of foliar plants is the global climate change. Herbivore’s growth, development, survival and geographical distribution all are determined by elevated CO2 and temperature. The interactions between herbivores and plants have changed due to increasing level of CO2 and temperature. The effect of high CO2 and temperature on grain legume plant which change in to plant physiology (e.g., nutritional content, foliage biomass) and how it change in herbivory metabolism rate and food consumption rate. Plant injury is determined by two factors viz. resistance and tolerance and both are influenced by greater CO2 and temperature. Legumes are an important source of food and feed in the form of proteins and also improve the soil environment. The repercussions of the abiotic factors mentioned above needs discussion among the scientific community. We may able to limit the negative repercussions of stated factors in future breeding projects by harnessing the practical favourable impacts and by including such influences of elevated CO2 and temperature on pulses productivity. The extensive research is necessary to overcome the negative effects of high CO2 and temperature on insect-plant interaction.

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Response of Grain Legume Species to Terminal Drought in Timor-Leste

Proceedings ◽

10.3390/proceedings2019036201 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 201

Author(s):

Marcal Gusmao ◽

Delfim Da Costa ◽

Angelo Da Costa Freitas ◽

Kadambot H. M. Siddique ◽

Robert Williams

Keyword(s):

Seed Yield ◽

Seed Weight ◽

Dry Matter ◽

Grain Legumes ◽

Grain Legume ◽

Terminal Drought ◽

Matter Production ◽

Timor Leste ◽

Water Treatments ◽

Plot Design

Growth, development and yield of three-grain legumes (mung bean [F1], soybean [F2] and grass pea [F3]) following rice crop to enhance grain production was studied in a paddy field in the northern Timor-Leste. A split plot design was used with three water treatments (well-watered [W0], water withheld at flowering [W1] and after germination [W2]). Interaction between water treatments and species on dry matter production (p < 0.001) and seed yield (p = 0.005) was observed. In control, the highest seed yield was F1 (1.2 t/ha) followed by F2 (1.1 t/ha) and F3 (0.4 t/ha) respectively. There was a steady reduction in seed yield in F1 from W0 to W2, but almost fifty percent reduction in F2 under W1 and W2 compared to W0. F3 had little difference between water treatments. The W1 and W2 reduced number of filled pods per plant in all species compared to control (W0). Between the species, F3 had the highest filled pods per plant followed by F2 and F3. The W1 and W2 reduced seeds per pod of F1; however, it did not effect F2 and F3. There were interactions between water treatment and species on 100 seeds weight. The heaviest seeds were in F2 in the control plants, but in the F2 drought treatments (W1 and W2) seed weight were less than F3. The lowest seed weight was in F1, but there was no impact of the terminal droughts on its seed weight.

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Spectrophotometrical pod colour measurement: a non-destructive method for monitoring seed drying?

The Journal of Agricultural Science ◽

10.1017/s0021859605005216 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 143 (2-3) ◽

pp. 183-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

F. COSTE ◽

M. P. RAVENEAU ◽

Y. CROZAT

Keyword(s):

Water Content ◽

Sharp Decrease ◽

Quality Criteria ◽

Visual Assessment ◽

Grain Legumes ◽

Grain Legume ◽

Seed Filling ◽

Wide Range ◽

Non Destructive ◽

Seed Water Content

A non-destructive indicator of seed water content could significantly help crop scientists with assessment of the effects of environmental conditions during drying on grain qualities or on seed physiological quality. This is particularly important for grain legumes which simultaneously bear pods of different ages. Visual assessment of pod colour has so far been used to date grain legume stages, but now colour can be easily and accurately measured with a portable spectrophotometer. Relationships between the spectrophotometer measurements and the pod and seed water contents were tested in various climatic contexts (3 years: 2000, 2001, 2002; field or greenhouse, two or three sowing dates) for two bean cultivars (Booster and Calypso) and also for one pea cultivar (Baccara) in 2003 near Angers, France. Among the different spectrophotometer measurements, hue angle (h) clearly shows the transition from green (h=180 °) to yellow (h=90 °) and then to red (h=0 °). In each context, h and seed water content (SWC) relationships showed the same pattern of three linear phases: first a steady state; then a sharp decrease from green (h=106–108 °) to yellow (h=85–93 °) just before the end of the seed filling stage for Booster or between the end of the seed filling phase and the beginning of seed drying for Calypso and pea; finally, a slow decrease from yellow to ochre (h=75–78 °) during seed drying. For each bean cultivar, the parameters of the linear relationships showed no differences between maturation conditions. Therefore, 6 h classes matching six SWC classes could be defined over a wide range of SWC between 0·56 and 0·2 g/g for Booster. However for Calypso and pea, only 3 h classes could be defined because of the tight relationships between h and SWC during the end of seed drying, which can be explained by pod walls drying faster than seeds. Hence, spectrophotometer measurements, if calibrated for a given cultivar of a species, could now be used to select pods with seeds of the same water content and therefore to study environmental effects on quality criteria either in controlled conditions or in the field.

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