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With powdery mildew on the ropes, this pea breeder has turned his attention to other disease issues as well as harvestability. AAFC pea breeder DJ Bing shows germplasm lines to visiting Chinese scientists. PROJECT TITLE Development of field pea varieties with improved disease resistance and harvestability PROJECT LEAD DJ Bing, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada TOTAL VALUE OF PROJECT $1,192,431 FUNDING PARTNERS Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers Five or 10 years ago, powdery mildew was giving Canadian field pea growers big problems. The disease, in a bad year, could take down a significant portion of the crop's yield and quality. Look at powdery mildew today. In DJ Bing's view, it's a great example of the good things that can happen when pulse scientists have the resources to work on an agronomic issue. "Powdery mildew was a challenge in the past," said Bing, Pulse Breeder with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada based in Lacombe. "The variety registration process now requires every pea variety here to be resistant to powdery mildew. It's the end for powdery mildew because we now have developed this resistance." Developing a new pea variety can easily take 10 or more years. Bing himself has been working on pea variety development since 1999 and has released more than 20 quality field pea varieties to Canadian pulse producers. That includes well-known names such as Agassiz, Argus, AAC Peace River, AAC Ardill and AAC Lacombe. DISEASE RESISTANCE, STANDABILITY KEY BREEDING TARGETS If new pea variety development takes time, it's no less true that it costs money. In 2013, Growing Forward 2 stepped up with a five- year investment to enable Bing to continue his work. His program played a key role in defeating powdery mildew. Next, he wants to develop peas that are resistant to ascochyta and root rot. "For ascochyta disease, the challenge is to get resistance," Bing said. "There is no strong genetic resistance in the current varieties and in the germplasm pool." The issues of disease management and harvestability are related in peas. If a crop lies down, it can be a nightmare to harvest. This also makes it easier for disease to take hold. If the crop stands tall, on the other hand, airflow within and between plants can reduce disease levels. "We have been making slow but steady improvement in resistance to ascochyta and better standability," Bing said. With his Growing Forward 2 funding about to end, Bing is looking to continue his pea variety development work. After 18 years, with numerous pea variety registrations from the AAFC field pea breeding program, he sees continued progress for Alberta's most important pulse crop. "This has been a major program for disease resistance, standability and yield, and we hope to continue it," Bing said. "Every so often you reach a kind of plateau. It takes time to break the plateau and push through it." In Pea Variety Development, the Work Goes On GROW GENETICS 9 | Pulse Research Report

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