Genetic initiative to transform symbiotic nitrogen fixation in Australian pulse crops

Legume pulses, including chickpea, lentil, field pea, fababean, lupin and mungbean, are a valuable part of the grains industry in Australia because of their protein rich seeds and their ability to capture atmospheric nitrogen for growth, via symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Typically, more than half of pulse nitrogen is derived from the atmosphere (NDFA), the reminder coming from the soil. However, there is great potential to increase NDFA in pulses by harnessing natural variation for nitrogen fixation through plant breeding, which would leave more nitrogen in the soil for subsequent crops and reduce use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and their loss to the environment. This project will develop tools to measure nitrogen fixation and NDFA in pulses, screen diverse sets of the six pulses for superior NDFA, and develop and utilize AI-guided genomic-selection to breed novel plant genotypes with greater potential to capture atmospheric nitrogen for seed protein production and soil nitrogen stocks.