Field bean and lupin

Cropping practice and use in Denmark

Approx. 1000 ha of field bean (Vicia faba) and a somewhat smaller area with lupin (Lupinus sp.) is grown in Denmark. The species are of considerable interest to organic production as protein feed instead of imported soya beans. Lupin is mainly grown in the form of different species: white lupin (Lupinus albus), yellow lupin (L. luteus) and blue lupin also known as narrow-leaved lupin (L.

angustifolius).

Crop area, Denmark, 2002 and 2006 (Rounded figures)

Year of cultivation 2002 2006 Conventionally grown field bean 700 ha (309 ha*) 750 ha (222 ha*) Organically grown field bean 250 ha (136 ha*) 450 ha (120 ha*) Field bean in total 950 ha (445 ha*) 1,200 ha (342 ha*) Conventionally grown lupin 550 ha (64 ha*) 100 ha (20 ha*) Organically grown lupin 1,600 ha (395 ha*) 700 ha (57 ha*) Lupin in total 2,150 ha (459 ha*) 800 ha (77 ha*) Sources: Kristensen, 2007; The Danish Plant Directorate, 2006a.

*areas for seed in brackets

Organic growing constituted approx. 38% of the growing of field bean and approx. 87% of the growing of lupin in 2006. The growing of field bean has increased by approx. 30% in 2006 compared with 2002, while there was a considerable reduction of approx. 63% in the growing of lupin.

Experience with GM growing in Denmark

So far, we have no experience with growing GM varieties of field bean and lupin in Denmark.

Experience with GM growing outside Denmark

So far, no trial releases have been registered for GM field bean or any of the lupin species in Europe. GM types of blue lupin, in which the protein component has been modified, are being evaluated in Australia (Glencross et al., 2003).

Sources of dispersal

All species exhibit a mixture of cross- and self-pollination with insects, chiefly bees. Bee

pollination can result in pollen transport and cross-pollination at large distances, whereas there is no wind transfer of pollen. Gene flow via pollen will thus be a possibility if GM varieties are marketed.

For seed certified production, there are isolation distances of 200 m for field bean and 100 m for lupins.

Seed shed at harvest occur in all species. Volunteers of field bean survive in the soil for a short time only, whereas lupins can form dormant hard seeds, enabling them to survive for a long time in the soil seed bank. In certified seed production, there is a 2-year interval without growing the same species for both crops in order to avoid admixture from other cultivars.

Under Danish conditions lupins can establish in field boundaries and in uncultivated areas so that GM plants could cross-breed and establish feral populations and subsequently become a source of adventitious GM presence in cultivated non-GM crops. None of the species occur as weeds in cultivated areas.

New knowledge

A study in Australia of cross-pollination frequencies between cultivated and feral populations of blue lupin concluded that cross-pollination frequencies between the two types are extremely limited, but this is chiefly due to very different times of flowering (Hamblin et al., 2005).

Dracup & Thompson (2000) reported very low cross-pollination frequencies (0-2%) between blue lupins, but it is not clear in how far it is possible to make general conclusions about cross-breeding between fields and about the other species.

Measures

As no GM types of these species are being grown so far, there is at present no risk of adventitious GM presence in Denmark. If GM varieties of these species become widespread, the most important measure will still be to prevent GM admixture in seed produced in Denmark or in imported seed.

The considerable cross-pollination of the species by bees, which can move pollen over large distances, is still creating uncertainty of whether the isolation distance of 200 m as used for the production of seed will sufficiently restrict cross-pollination to levels required for co-existence.

Therefore, a distance of 400 m should be retained as used for production of basic seed, if the growing of GM varieties of these species should become possible.

In any future growing of GM crops of these species, volunteers should be effectively controlled after germination in the autumn, and there should be a 2-year cropping interval between GM and non-GM crops of these species to avoid adventitious GM presence due to volunteers. Furthermore, naturalised populations of these species should be controlled in areas adjacent to the crops.

Need for further knowledge

For all species, we need good studies of the extent of gene dispersal through pollen between fields of the same species and between cultivated and feral types.

For all species, we need knowledge about the extent of problems with volunteers, including the seeds’ capacity for dormancy and for being included in the soil seed bank and effective methods for controlling volunteers.

Conclusion

In Denmark, small areas of field bean and lupin are grown. The species are of considerable interest to organic production, and a large part of the areas are organic.

So far, we have no experience with growing GM varieties of field bean and lupin in Denmark.

So far, no trial releases have been registered for GM field bean or any of the lupin species in Europe. GM types of blue lupin are being evaluated in Australia (Glencross et al., 2003).

Ensuring against GM content in seed, isolation distances and control of volunteers will ensure co-existence between GM and non-GM production if GM varieties are marketed. The proposal, which is unchanged from the 2003 Report, appears from Table 2.1.

For all species, we lack knowledge about gene dispersal, the problems with volunteers and about control methods.