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Parts of Our Pea Collection Characterized in Search of Plant Based Protein Sources for the Future

Date: 2020.09.30

Contact: info@nordgen.org

NordGen has more than 2 000 seed samples (accessions) from different peas in our collection. This is a very valuable part of our collection, containing local varieties, breeding lines and wild relatives to our cultivated peas. These pea accessions are vital when it comes to producing more locally grown plant protein beneficial for both the economy and our climate. Last summer, we propagated 100 of the pea accessions and took the opportunity to learn as much as possible about them.

A large portion of NordGen’s pea collection was donated in the 1980s by the Swedish plant breeding company Weibullsholms växtförädlingsanstalt, as their breeding program was shut down. The pea collection is one of a kind and contains pea accessions from all over the world.

To maintain the quality of the seeds in NordGen’s seed collection, regular controls are made on germination and the number of seeds. If necessary, the samples are propagated. This means that they are taken out of the freezers and sown in the field to produce more viable seeds. In 2019, around 600 of the peas needed to be propagated. Thanks to a grant from the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark, we have now come a long way in this project. One hundred accessions were selected and cultivated last summer.

Important characterisation work

Just as important as “renewing” the material is getting more information about each accession. Therefore, careful observations were made of their appearance, flowering time, time of ripening, number of pods per plant, harvest weight, etc. The protein content was also measured. This process is called characterization.

“A problem with many of the accessions in our pea collection is that we partly lack information about them. Basic facts, such as plant height is essential knowledge in order for us to propagate them externally at other companies. It is also very sought-after information from others wanting to use our material. If a potential propagator is lacking information about how much space the peas will take up it is of course difficult to accept the mission. At the same time it’s also very useful information for breeder”, said Jette Nydam Hansen, genebank curator at NordGen.

Domestically Grown Protein Sources Needed

An important part in the conversion to a more sustainable agriculture and reducing the effect on climate change is to identify more plant-based protein sources that can be cultivated in the Nordic countries, reducing the need for import. Pea is an excellent example of such a plant and analysis show that some of the pea accessions we propagated in 2019 have a protein content of up to 29%.

Increased Value

NordGens’ Senior Seed Documentarist Scientist, Mohammad El-Khalifeh, has been responsible for the practical characterization work and has spent many hours in the field taking pictures, measuring and documenting the properties of the peas.

“Thanks to this project, the value of these seeds has increased considerably. The extensive knowledge we’ve gathered about the material will now be transferred into our information system GeNBIS. This will most certainly lead to an increased interest and thereby use of the material” he said.

We are also working with peas in the project Arctic Peas. Read more about it here.