Two diseases that threatened to devastate the State’s $200 million-a-year lupin industry have been stalled, thanks to the work of Department of Agriculture molecular geneticist Hua’an Yang.
Dr Yang has developed a molecular marker process that allows lupin breeders to confirm immediately if the desired resistance genes to anthracnose and phomopsis are present.
With that identification made, those breeding lines can be fast-tracked towards commercialisation and those plants without the markers can be removed from the breeding program.
Anthracnose, caused by a fungal micro-organism, can cause yield losses of up to 50 per cent and even total crop failure. It first appeared in Western Australia’s commercial lupin crops in 1996.
Phomopsis produces toxins that can kill animals that eat infected lupin stubble.
It is suspected the diseases came into Australia through horticultural imports of ornamental lupins before tougher seed quarantine measures were introduced.
Thanks to Dr Yang’s molecular marker approach growers can quickly identify those plants that have disease resistance and concentrate on selection for high-yield and quality, reaping gains in overall effectiveness and efficiency. It removes the problem of having to wait five years or so, as required under traditional methods, to identify disease resistant plants.
Dr Yang said the reduced yield that accompanied increased disease resistance was a problem for growers. He was involved in tracking down the diseases when they were first discovered.
