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PULSE
THE
MAGAZINE
SUMMER 2016
P G RO
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE PGRO
Your long term partner in pulses.
Nirvana
®
for the key weeds
Signum
®
for the key diseases
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What does that mean? Look it up …!
Every so often I become aware that a word appears rather more frequently than
normal. It becomes trendy for journalists to use it in verbal and audio exchanges,
as if it is a challenge to the rest of us to understand what they are talking about.
For the last few months the word of the moment appeared to be paradigm, frequently
incorporated into the phrase paradigm shift. It was all over the place, and whilst I like to
think that I have a reasonable grasp of the English language and was familiar with the
word, I could not for the life of me recall a precise definition from my memory banks.
The use of paradigm has faded almost as quickly as it surfaced and in the last few days
appears to have been replaced in journalist’s lexicon by dystopian, a word I guess many
will associate with Aldous Huxley.
Roger Vickers
Chief Executive
Thinking about these minor linguistic challenges reminded me of the question and
answer that form the title of this editorial. My father firmly believed that if my brother or I
were to learn anything we should research and read it for ourselves if it were to stick. So
inevitably when we didn’t understand a word and we would ask “what does that mean?”
we would be met with the refrain “Look it up in the dictionary.” A good habit, I guess, and
one that has stood me reasonably well. Of course, now we almost all carry around tablets
or smart phones, ever-present tools that almost instantly provide definitions or meanings
to the uninitiated, so perhaps the question “what does that mean?” (revealing one’s
ignorance) gets uttered less frequently.
Another word that has found itself appearing in front of me on an increasingly regular
basis over the last 3 years is falafel. Until I became involved in the pulse industry I confess
I had never heard of it and I challenge any of you to immediately describe it. Falafel turns
out to be a rather delicious snack consisting of a small croquette made with faba bean
flour or ground chickpeas, seasoned with salt and spices.
It is the destination of a significant proportion of the UK bean crop, especially that exported
to Egypt - and with the internationalisation of food, it is becoming a food trend in the UK
too. Not only is it delicious and highly nutritious, it is low in fat and very satisfying.
Now with 2016 being the International Year of Pulses, it is fantastic news that at the recent
London Falafel Festival the Egyptian guest chefs of the Zooba restaurant chain in Cairo
won the public vote for the best tasting falafel - and they made it with UK produced faba
beans! (See the special IYP feature on pages 8-9 of this issue).
Hopefully, this is just the start of a great falafel boom and a massive increase in the UK
consumption of delicious UK produce. It is very easy to make at home and an Egyptian
recipe for the ‘world’s best falafel recipe’ can be found at www.theguardian.com/
lifeandstyle/2015/mar/20/worlds-best-falafel-recipe-henry-dimbleby-back-to-basics.
Go on – have a go!
P G RO
Of course, once in a while delicious opportunities for harmless payback on one’s parents
arise, so when I mentioned to my octogenarian father that I had attended the London
Falafel festival, he asked, “falafel, what is that?” You can guess my reply.
Let’s hope for all of us that the impact is positive and endures.
Roger Vickers, Chief Executive
Contents
04
Market Prospect
Competitiveness and quality remain key for
2016 harvest.
10
Chris Collings, President of BEPA
06
Pulse Agronomy
Pea and bean weevil control update.
12
Becky Ward, PGRO Principal Technical Officer.
Grower Story
A Lancashire spring bean grower clocks up impressive
yields on moss land.
Alan Webster.
PGRO Pulse Research
Foot rot disease in peas – tests to assess risk levels in soil
prior to pea planting.
Dr Lea Wiesel, PGRO Plant Pathologist.
08
International Year of Pulses
The London Falafel Festival and updates
on this year’s UN event.
Franek Smith, Vice President of BEPA.
14
Collaborative Pulse Research
Sustainable protein production using faba beans: an overview
on routes to commercialisation by beans4feed project partners.
Pete Iannetta of James Hutton Institute in Dundee.
Diary Dates
Vining Pea Field Day
Nocton, near Dunston,
21 June
Pulse Crop Field Day
Stubton, near Newark
30 June
CropTec East of England
Showground,
Peterborough
29 & 30 November
PGRO, Great North Road, Thornhaugh, Peterborough PE8 6HJ Tel 01780 782585 Fax 01780 783993 Email info@pgro.org Web pgro.org ISSN 1758-3543
Chief Executive: Roger Vickers Principal Technical Officers: Stephen Belcher, Jim Scrimshaw, Becky Ward Plant Pathologist: Dr Lea Wiesel
For editorial and advertising contact: Sue Bingham at PGRO on 01780 782585 Published by Ahead PR aheadpr.eu Design graphicgene.co.uk
Reading The Pulse Magazine in conjuction with other PGRO publications is now recognised by BASIS and carries 2 CPD points
t: 01780 782585 www.pgro.org e: info@pgro.org
03
Market Prospect
Competitiveness and quality
remain key for 2016 harvest
After the slow start to spring those pulse crops drilled in the
last five weeks are emerging well, even if slightly behind last
year at this stage.
Reports of spring bean ground being left fallow further north due to extreme, and
therefore undrillable, conditions have led to trade speculation that the total bean area
could be 7-8% down rather than the 10-15% increase broadcast earlier in the year.
Chris Collings,
President of BEPA
The area is therefore forecast to be in the region of 218K Ha total of beans and peas,
with a 80/20 split beans/peas. Certainly in East Anglia the pea area seems to have
increased with a number of new growers on board with peas for the first time.
While Egypt has been an active consumer of spring beans again this season the ability
to finance new purchases (or even take older ones) has led to slow movement of old
contracts and little interest in new business. Containers that have arrived in Egypt in
recent months are still sitting quay side, awaiting for collection from end buyers. This
has resulted in a number of remaining parcels of spring beans in the UK that would
otherwise have potentially made human consumption grade finding their way into
domestic feed bean homes.
Renewed interest in old crop green peas has caused values to lift and remaining
parcels have found their way into the market, at values some £15-20 better than
seen at the low point in the last six months. Deliveries of contracted marrowfats from
harvest 2015 continue at high values with no problems, emphasising the importance
of contracting these when and where possible. As a result contracted marrowfat peas
will produce some of the highest gross margins seen from harvest 2015.
Poor aphid control last year led to a number of pea mosaic virus issues, resulting in
large reductions in value of in particular marrowfat peas. In a year with a larger area of
marrowfat peas growers need to pay attention to this issue and carefully monitor and
treat accordingly.
As we reach the mid way point of International Year of Pulses 2016 (IYP) it has been
a refreshing reminder for those of us involved about the benefits of pulses both in
the UK and wider world production. It is useful to remember that pulses use up to
260 times less water to produce 1kg of Daal (split peas and lentils) compared to 1kg
of beef, and 86 times less water to produce than an equivalent 1kg of chicken. While
not a major concern in the UK, water usage in other parts of the globe is a major
consideration.
Described as a superfood, pulses have zero cholesterol, low fat content, are gluten
free and are high in iron and zinc along with other nutritional benefits.
The message during IYP is that pulses are nutritious, sustainable and affordable and in
the current climate concerned with healthy eating, this is more pertinent than ever.
04
t: 01780 782585 www.pgro.org e: info@pgro.org
THE COOLEST
THE COOLEST
BEAN
BEAN
ON
ON
THE
SCENE
THE SCENE




• 
 
• 
 

www.lgseeds.co.uk/tundra
@lgseedsuk
Rothwell, Market Rasen,
Tel: 01472 371471
Lincolnshire, LN7 6DT
enquiries@limagrain.co.uk
t: 01780 782585 www.pgro.org e: info@pgro.org
05
Pulse Agronomy
Pea and bean weevil control update
The pea and bean weevil (Sitona lineatus) is a damaging insect
pest of legumes in the UK. The insect is 4-5 mm long with a
narrow, brown body, angled antennae and a blunt snout
Becky Ward
Principal Technical Officer
It emerges from its over-wintering sites, which are surrounding hedgerows
and field margins, when temperatures reach about 12°C and crawls into
crops. The pest doesn’t fly until temperature exceeds 18°C and damage
is usually first seen on headlands as the weevils walk into the crop. Small
u-shaped notches around the leaf margins of peas and beans indicate that
weevils are feeding in crops, and although adults continue feeding on foliage
for some time, in good conditions the plants grow away from leaf damage
as weather becomes warmer. In cool growing conditions, damage to foliage
can outstrip plant growth.
Early sown spring crops are the most susceptible to attack as they are not
well established when weevils first emerge. Eggs are laid around the base of
the plant and larvae feed on the nitrogen fixing root nodules below ground,
reducing available nitrogen and allowing soil-borne pathogens to infect
roots. Damage to root nodules can cause considerable reduction in yield,
particularly in crops grown for dry harvest, as nitrogen deficiency may affect
seed weight. This effect may be more severe when weevil damage occurs in
conjunction with other stress factors such as drought or poor soil conditions.
When larval attack is severe yield can be reduced by 25%.
In recent years growers have experienced increasing difficulty controlling pea
and bean weevil, leading to concerns that weevils are becoming resistant to
pyrethroid products, and urgent work to understand the nature and extent of
insecticide resistance in the pea and bean weevil was carried out in response
to this. Live adult samples, collected from some of the main UK arable
regions in 2015, were screened in glass vial assays to assess resistance to
pyrethroids at field rates of two pyrethroid active ingredients. The resistance
was distributed widely, although in all cases was partial. The mechanism of
resistance is not clear at present with results of bioassays suggesting that pea
and bean weevils were carrying both kdr and metabolic resistance.
Advice to growers is as follows:
• Ensure a level seed bed so that weevils are not able to shelter from insecticide applications in
cooler weather
• Do not use repeat applications of pyrethroid insecticides if they do not work initially
• Use full rates of pyrethroids if control is still
effective in order to prevent selection of resistant
weevils
• Spray during the warmer parts of the day as long as
the crop is not flowering, to improve targeting of
the adult insects
• Use angled nozzles to improve targeting
06
t: 01780 782585 www.pgro.org e: info@pgro.org
UK map of resistance 2015
Adult pea and bean weevil
Pea and bean weevil foliar damage in beans
Pea and bean weevil foliar damage in peas
Pea and bean weevil foliar damage in peas
Pea and bean weevil larvae feeding on root nodules
Courtesy of Syngenta UK Ltd
t: 01780 782585 www.pgro.org e: info@pgro.org
07
International Year
of Pulses
UK Fava Bean Falafels Win Top Prize
at the Sold-out London Falafel Festival
As the International Year of Pulses (IYP) gets into its stride, pulse-based
foods caught the public’s imagination as four falafel masters competed
for votes at the first ever Falafel Festival at London’s Borough Market.
Falafels are one of the most popular new-wave foods for UK consumers,
and this was reflected in the packed attendance at the Festival where
falafels made with fava beans, chickpeas and lentils competed for the top
prize, and over 700 potential falafel gourmets paid to attend the festival
to sample offerings from the four chefs.
Franek Smith
Vice President of BEPA
“
One of the objectives
of the International
Year of Pulses for UK
pulse growers is to
increase the awareness
and consumption of all
pulse products, and high
profile public events like
this show the versatility
of pulses.
The eventual winner was Mustafa Elrefaey of ‘Zööba’, who flew in from
Cairo for the event, to prepare his charred-aubergine-stuffed falafel made
with UK-produced fava beans, served over baba ghanouj and drizzled with
beetroot and hibiscus tahini. Egypt is one of the major markets for human
consumption beans grown by British farmers, hence Mustafa’s win using
UK-produced beans underlined our well-earned reputation as quality
bean growers - whether for export or for our home market.
Mustafa Elrefaey is
Executive Chef
& Partner of Zooba
Home grown
“When we first
heard about the
2016 London Falafel Festival from my Good
Friend Mufaddal, we were very excited to just
be invited and have the chance to introduce
Egyptian Falafel (Taamia) outside of Egypt.
At Zooba we’ve been working nonstop to
perfect our Taamia recipe for the past four
years, since we opened our first restaurant
in 2012 in Cairo. We’ve changed our
preparation process over five times just to
make sure it has the right texture, crunchy
on the outside and soft on the inside. To
achieve this in every piece we decided that
every order needs to be prepared fresh on
the spot - no Taamia can be pre-prepared or
pre-cooked!
“
The invitation to compete in London came
at a perfect time, when we were almost
considering ourselves crazy for investing so
much time in getting our recipe just right. It
was very refreshing to feel that people care
about Taamia as much as we do. We knew
that the organizers were keen to include
Egyptian Falafel as, while it is still one of the
most popular street foods in Egypt, its origins
date back to the Ancient Egyptians who used
Fava Beans, as we still do today, to create a
locally available fresh, nutritious meal. We
believe that Falafel actually originated in
Egypt and was then adopted across other
cultures that make it with chickpeas or a
08
t: 01780 782585 www.pgro.org e: info@pgro.org
chickpea and other bean combination.
Our recipe stays true to the original recipe
keeping it fresh with only fava beans as the
base adding green herbs and spices but not
overshadowing the original taste with too
many ingredients.
For the Festival we decided to offer one of
our more unique and creative items, our
Taamia with eggplant and spicy pepper filling.
We also added a Tahini with hibiscus and
beetroot topping which turned out to be a
great hit and we’ll now bring back to Egypt.
The preparation process in London for the
Festival was tricky as we didn’t have our
kitchen, our ingredients, our team, or our
machinery. I spent two days in my brother’s
house outside of London before the event
preparing everything to make sure all the
ingredients were ready to be cooked and
served fresh on the day of the event. I
think this is what made the win even more
valuable for us as we had to be a bit creative
and it took quite an effort to pull it together.
To our surprise, the festival tickets were sold
out, and once the tasting started, the queue
did not end for three hours! The vibe was
great, meeting the other participants and
getting a taste of their Taamia was insightful
and the reaction of the crowd was incredible
- some of them were so passionate and kept
coming back for more. The whole event
really surpassed our expectations. This was
a great experience and hopefully a new
opportunity for Zooba!”
Victoria Brown,
an Artist based in
Derbyshire, is running
a project titled ‘Bean’,
observing a bean crop
from seed to harvest
to create a series
of paintings titled
‘The Bean Scrolls’
celebrating the land, plant growth and production of
nutritious food for an ever-growing world population.
“The Bean project started with a ‘Bean’ creative workshop
with the team at Little Explorers Nursery which is a Forest
School within Broomfield Hall, Derby College. The Nursery is
set within beautiful surroundings, a working estate where the
children spend most of their days outdoors in the rich learning
environment including gardens, woods and fields.
International Year of Pulses Events
The series of events that will take place during the year will
promote the message of what pulses are, what they look like,
why they are healthy, good environmentally, how they are
grown, what they produce - ending with what food products/
snacks they produce and giving the opportunity to experience
what they taste like.
Food and Farming Day1 July
East of England Showground
The Kids County Food and Farming Day
aims to teach children where food comes
from, and the importance of agriculture
and the countryside, through interactive
learning experiences. 6,000 children
and their teachers are expected to attend.
P G RO
BEAN YIELD
Challenge
Check PGRO
and BEPA web sites
for full details and
other dates!
www.pgro.org
www.bepa.org
A generation ago,
the Ten Tonne Club for wheat helped
to change the aspirations of the best
growers of wheat. It is now time to
do the same for the bean crop, and
the PGRO Bean Yield Challenge looks
towards growing a 10 tonne field bean
crop by 2020.
The Challenge is open to any UK-based grower of any commercial
UK-grown grain crop and will run annually until
crop 2020 - or until the first 10t/ha crop
Last chance
is validated - whichever is the sooner.
A prize trophy will be awarded annually
for the highest verified yield for each
crop year starting with 2015-2016.
The absolute Yield Challenge winner
will be the first grower to achieve
a verified yield of 10t/ha or more.
I will be artist in residence at the Nursery until July setting up
a Bean Studio in a polytunnel within the Nursery grounds. The
polytunnel is starting to be transformed, the children visit me
in groups throughout the day and I set up different art activities
for them to explore.
We commenced with opening packets of bean seeds and
closely observing the different shapes and sizes. The children
then started drawing the seeds with charcoal and pastels. It
was fascinating to see their concentration on drawing, the
children are aged 2 to 4 years and they stayed with the task
for far longer than I had anticipated. The children loved the
digging and planting too.
The following week I built on this experience by taking in
watercolours and large pieces of watercolour paper. The
children worked freely mixing and applying the paints to the
beans they had drawn with sticks of charcoal.
I am also working with a year five class at Dale Primary school
at Normanton, within the City of Derby. To start the project
we had a full day sketching bean seeds, planting beans,
gilding beans and making bean patterns on the floor and in
clay. Following weeks I shared my creative processes with the
children using acrylic paints and gold to create a painting to
celebrate the miracle of a seed. The paintings were stunning
with careful detail, pattern and wonderful use of colour.
The beans have loved the warmth of the school and have
grown very quickly. The children have drawn sketches of the
seeds at various stages of growth and have experimented using
watercolour paints for the first time. I am keeping them up to
date with progress on the bean field, they were very interested
by my video of the beans being drilled on the farm.”
for 2016 entries
Closes 1 July
for full details &
rules go to
www.pgro.org
t: 01780 782585 www.pgro.org e: info@pgro.org
09
“
We grow beans as
they fit well into our
rotation giving a good
gross margin and a great
start to winter wheat
“
Alan Webster
Grower Story
A Lancashire spring bean grower clocks
up impressive yields on moss land
Alan Webster and his wife Nancy farm over 200ha (a mixture
of owned and rented land) on the Moss between Ormskirk and
Southport in Lancashire - not a typical location for spring bean
production. Yet he has achieved average yields from his spring
beans over the last five years ranging from 6.18 to 8.05t/ha.
And in some fields, the 2015 crop approached 9.85t/ha.
Background
The Websters started by renting just
18 acres for celery and spring onion
production. Today they have a permanent
team of five and take on 12 harvest
casuals during the summer, cropping
2.5 million heads of celery. Spring onion
production has been dropped, but 3000
tonnes of whole head cabbage are
harvested all year round.
The rotation is strictly 1:7 for the beans,
Becky
celery and cabbage. Winter
wheat isWard
always a first wheat, alternating on each
Principal
Technical
Officer
field every
year. To make
up the rest
of the
rotation potatoes, oats and grass are host
cropped in collaboration with other local
growers. Beans are a long-term fixture in
the rotation and approximately 40ha are
sown each year.
The soil type varies mainly between deep
black peats with underlying silts to dark
sandy loams and a small area of boulder
clay. Field sizes are typically 6-8 ha and
bordered by watercourses. The land is
low lying at approximately 2m above sea
level with a flat aspect exposed to the
in-blowing influences of the Irish Sea
a few miles to the north and west. The
climate is generally cooler than further
south and inland, and the dark soil takes
longer to warm up in spring. The soil
type harbours a phenomenal weed bank,
but soil structure, high water table and
15-year average of 888mm annual rainfall
mean that soil water deficit is never a
yield-limiting factor.
10
t: 01780 782585 www.pgro.org e: info@pgro.org
Spring bean activities start with a look at the preceding winter wheat stubble, which
is cleaned up with Roundup through the later autumn/winter period and is then left
untouched until mid-march. Alan prefers to leave the land until it has really started to warm
up. As well as ensuring a rapid emergence for the beans, it spreads the workload for the
farm in the spring, allowing time-critical actions for other activities to take priority.
Alan comments: “typically we are considered to be late sowers but I like the soil to be warm
for the weeds to flush and for the beans to get up and away. Normally we drill around the
10th April, working the land from stubble to sown with pre-emergence of 4l/ha Nirvana
(pendimethalin and imazamox ) + 0.25l/ha Centium (clomazone) applied within 3 days.”
The land is ploughed with a tracked Class 850hp with 6 furrow plough, a Lemken trailing
press and cultivator set. This produces a good tilth from a single pass, sufficient to take the
suffolk coulters of the 6m Accord drill, placing the seed at a depth of 10cm.
Alan insists that traffic on the land is kept to an absolute minimum to avoid any compaction:
“but we always Cambridge Roll immediately after drilling to consolidate the seed bed. On
the Moss, the seedbed needs to be firm to hold the beans up as they extend. At the same
time we apply a maintenance application of 75kg Potash. Soil indices for phosphate and
potash are 2+ on all our fields, so timing is not really important and we maintain a pH of
6-6.5 using granular lime ahead of the cabbage and celery crops.”
For the previous five or more years Alan’s variety was Fuego, but he switched to Vertigo in
2015 as the PGRO tables show it should give a significant yield benefit: “it didn’t disappoint,
but on just one year it is too soon to judge. I always use certified seed as it gives peace of
mind in the event of anything going wrong, we know from our work with veg that seed can
be tested as much as you like but it is field performance that counts and I like to have the
safety net that a certificate provides.”
Depending upon the soil type, around 230kgs/ha (approximately 42 seeds/sqm) are drilled,
but on the lighter soils experience shows that the plants will be short in stature and set pods
very low to the ground, presenting difficulties at harvest and increased pod losses. Plants on
the silts may only reach 1m in height in comparison to those on the more peaty soils which
not been necessary and bruchid beetle has not been a problem
since 2005. Alan believes that the cooler climate in the northwest
is a distinct advantage in this respect, but as a precaution he
follows the guiding principles of the Bruchidcast system and
always manages to achieve a human consumption grade
premium for his produce.
regularly exceed 2.5m. To combat this, the seed rate is increased a
little (2-3 plants/sqm) to encourage interplant competition and an
increase in the height of pod set.
Using Alan’s establishment techniques, the plants are usually
30-80% emerged within 7-10 days and it is at this point that Alan
takes a more unusual approach. Before the emerging cotyledons
have begun to open out, he applies a dose of 1.5l/ha Retro
(diquat).
“It takes out all of the small weeds: we have done it for the last 10
years and, in my opinion it is the most important spray we apply.”
The addition of Activator 90, a surfactant, ensures a better surface
contact and control and avoids ‘spotting’ on the beans.
The next critical phase comes in late May/early June when the
crop is approximately 15-20cm tall and just before the rapid
extension period. At this point, the crop is spring-tined grassland
harrowed. After a week the crop has recovered and the process
is repeated in the opposite direction. The mechanical weeding
process ensures that any freshly emerging weeds are destroyed
just as the crop is about to accelerate skywards and shut out the
light.
Alan believes it encourages the beans to branch: “it is not for the
faint hearted as it looks a right mess and we probably lose up to
10% of the leaves. But the plants recover quickly and it ensures the
best possible weed control. It never fails.”
In 2015 a single application of an insecticide and fungicide
was required for Downy Mildew, applied on 9th July. 280g/ha
Aphox (pirimicarb) tank-mixed with 0.1l/ha Sparta (flusilazole and
carbendazim) and 0.75kg/ha Signum (boscalid and pyraclostrobin)
at early flowering. The policy adopted is to apply as much as is
necessary - and if two or three fungicide sprays are required, there
is no hesitation in order to preserve yield and, importantly, quality.
Sowing late - and a belief in delaying pre-harvest desiccation until
70% of the pods are black and all of the leaves have fallen - means
a late application of 4-5l/ha glyphosate and a late harvest, usually
in the first 10 days of October. In the harvesting process, the straw
chopper is periodically turned off to check for losses over the
back, and forward speed is adjusted to ensure minimal front end
losses.
One of the best investments the farm has made has been a side
knife, which has significantly reduced losses in lodged or leaning
crops and speeds up throughput. In 2015, the final field was cut
on 18th October at 18.5% moisture. The grain is dried to 15-15.5%
moisture through a 16t Master mobile drier with pre-cleaner and
dust extraction, before being moved to storage.
Alan stresses: “drying is critical to preserve quality, we dry slowly
with low heat to avoid splitting and can usually complete three 16t
loads during a day.” The grain is continuously cycled during the
drying process and is run cold for 30 minutes before turning out.
Is the crop profitable? Well, from the 2015 crop, the gross margin
calculations show a return of £697/ha - albeit with a price
achieved of £138/t ex-farm for December movement.
Alan sums up: “I always sell early as we need the space and I want
the export market. Of course we would like more - the price was
£92/t less than the best price of 2014, but prices of all crops are
under serious pressure.
“Our yield is due to timings of operations and our larger rainfall,
this keeps the crop growing when most areas of the country
would stop or shut down. In addition, due to late sowings, we
tend to have less poor patches that could reduce our average
yield. However, late sowing means late harvest - a worry as
the weather mid to late September is not always best suited to
combining. “We grow beans as they fit well into our rotation giving a good
gross margin and a great start to winter wheat. Also they break up
and condition the soil structure with the roots and the debris from
the straw.”
This is a shorter version of an article that appeared in Farmers Guardian on 13 May 2016
Whilst the Websters do nothing
to specifically to encourage bees,
there is a very high population
locally and large numbers are
attracted to the beans.
Lessons learned from the past
when growing peas have been
applied to the bean crop, hence
knowing that some of the fields
are a bit prone to manganese
deficiency, 3-4 kg/ha of
manganese are routinely applied
with the fungicide.
To date, crop treatments for pea
and bean weevil (Sitona) have
t: 01780 782585 www.pgro.org e: info@pgro.org
11
PGRO Pulse Research
Foot rot disease in peas – tests to assess
risk levels in soil prior to pea planting
Foot rot diseases of peas can have major impacts on yields. Infected
plants are yellow in colour, may be stunted and plants often die
before pods reach their full potential (Picture 1). These symptoms
are caused by infection of plant roots by soil-borne pathogens. In
the UK, the pathogens Fusarium spp. and Didymella pinodella have
traditionally caused foot rots in peas but more recently another very
destructive pathogen, Aphanomyces euteiches, has been adding to
the foot rot complex.
Dr Lea Wiesel
Plant Pathologist
“
It is of immense
importance that we try
to stop Aphanomyces
euteiches from getting
a hold in UK soils …
Aphanomyces euteiches is a soil-borne oomycete that produces long-lasting resting
spores (oospores) that can survive in soils for more than 10 years. Even low numbers
of resting spores can have devastating impacts on yields and once a field is infected
it cannot be used for pea cropping in at least a decade. There is no chemical control
available for this disease and the only ways to try to control the disease impact is to stop
distribution of Aphanomyces euteiches in the UK and to keep pathogen levels as low as
possible in infected fields.
Aphanomyces euteiches is a fairly new disease in UK soils and its distribution seems to
be restrained to Northern parts of the UK so far. It has been confirmed in high levels in
fields in the east of Scotland and has been detected in fields in Yorkshire last year. It is of
immense importance that we try to stop Aphanomyces euteiches from getting a hold
in UK soils. Some areas in France and the Great Lake regions of the USA are so heavily
infested that pea production had to be abandoned in these areas. Brian Ó Loinsigh
started his PhD project with the University of Nottingham and PGRO last year and is
carrying out a soil survey across eastern parts of the UK this year. This will show the
distribution of Aphanomyces euteiches in the UK.
“
So
much
more
...
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warning phrases and symbols refer to www.syngenta.co.uk ©Syngenta AG May 2014.
Although disease severity is dependent on soil structure and weather
conditions, potentially the most important factor is the pathogen
level in soils. PGRO has developed a lab based test to assess risk
levels of Aphanomyces euteiches in soil. Infected roots are soft and
honey coloured and cannot support plant health (Picture 2). Infection
severity is scored on a scale of 0 to 5 (0 = healthy roots, 5 = dead
roots) and any soil with an index of equal or greater 3 is very likely to
lead to heavily diseased plants and subsequent reductions in yield.
Pic 1: Foot rot disease in a pea field
Pic 2: Aphanomyces euteiches
Assessing Risk - Soil testing
In order to get your soils tested for levels of
Aphanomyces euteiches a soil sample of about
2 kg needs to be collected in a W shape across the
field. Send the soil sample to PGRO with a note
to say that you would like the soil to be tested for
Aphanomyces euteiches. The price per soil sample
is £149. Results will usually be reported within
three weeks; it is, however, best to send in soil
samples around 12-18 months prior to planting
pea crops in order to allow sufficient time to replan should high levels of Aphanomyces euteiches
be detected in your soils. PGRO also offers a
test to determine levels of Fusarium solani and
Didymella pinodella in soil at a price of £47 per soil
sample. Levels are rated on a scale of 0.2 to 5 and
for every point increase on the index scale there is
a 0.85 t/ha yield penalty.
A fourth pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum, has
more recently been linked to foot rot diseases
in peas too. PGRO is working on a project to
develop molecular diagnostics for all four foot
rot causing pathogens. The aim is to be able to
determine levels of all pathogens in the soil sample
simultaneously at a reduced price for growers.
More importantly, the aim is to link pathogen
levels to yield losses per hectare.
This will provide a comprehensive risk assessment
tool for pea growers and will help to increase
efficiency of pea production in the UK.
... than meets
the eye
Hallmark Zeon® delivering unrivalled performance
through patent protected Zeon Technology.
Approved for use on a wide range of crops and
insect pests.
Collaborative
pulse research
Pete Iannetta
of James Hutton
Institute in Dundee.
Sustainable protein
production using
faba beans: an
overview on routes
to commercialisation
by beans4feed
project partners
On the 30th of June last year the
£2.6 million InnovateUK/Industry
funded project ‘Beans4feeds’ came
to an end. The 54-month project
focused on the “development
of protein-rich and starch-rich
fractions from faba beans for
salmon and terrestrial animal
production, respectively”.
The project was justified by its potential for
commercialisation, and by several underpinning
economic and environmental drivers which
included: the use of home grown legume
produce; offsetting imports of soybean;
reducing reliance on inorganic nitrogen
fertiliser; and soil and biodiversity benefits.
The approach pursued by Beans4feeds
acknowledged that faba bean kernel meal has
been used successfully in farmed salmon feeds
for more than 20 years, and that more would
be used if the faba bean protein could be
isolated from the seed starch as a concentrate.
Beans4feeds is co-funded
by the Technology Strategy
Board (TSB101096).
The industrial partners are
EWOS Ltd, BioMar Ltd,
Limagrain UK Ltd
and Harbro Ltd.
The academic partners are
the Universities of Stirling,
Aberdeen, St. Andrews,
Scotland’s Rural College and
the James Hutton Institute.
14
t: 01780 782585 www.pgro.org e: info@pgro.org
To give a commercial context 160,000 tonnes
of salmon are produced annually in the UK with
a fish-farm gate value of £600m. Salmon is
Scotland’s second largest food export product
(after whisky), with 200,000 tonnes of feed
used every year at an excellent feed conversion
rate of 1.25, or 0.8 kg of fish produced for every
kg fed. Salmon production is set to increase
dramatically, and sustainable protein sources
for feeds are in high demand.
Enriched protein fractions were achieved from
kernel meal partitioned using ‘air fractionation’,
where an air cyclone separates the smaller,
lighter protein bodies from the larger, and
heavier starch granules. Bean protein
concentrate was fed to fish while bean starch
concentrate was fed to pigs and poultry.
WHOLE FABA BEANS (100%)
Dehulling
KERNELS
80% of whole bean
HULLS
18% of whole bean
Milling and
Air Classification
Protein
Concentrate
20% of
whole bean
Starch
Concentrate
60% of
whole bean
(11:1, protein:starch)
(1:3, protein:starch)
SALMON
PIGS & POULTRY
RUMINANTS
The project results showed that air-fractionated bean protein concentrate in salmon feed with
inclusion rates of up to 20% presented no health challenges, there were no obvious effects
of bean anti-nutritionals, and fish feeding and growth were equal to or faster than fish fed
conventionally - both when fed to fish juveniles (in freshwater) and to mature fish (in salt water).
Fish fed with bean protein concentrate also showed normal yields, with good colour and no
‘gaping’ - separation of the muscle blocks and a measure of quality. Fillets from fish fed on bean
protein concentrate also appeared 15-20% firmer, which is expected to help extend shelf life.
Similar results were obtained for the starch concentrate fed to pigs and poultry, where soya
could be completely replaced by bean starch in feeds for these animals.
The project was not plain-sailing however, and key technical and commercial
challenges remain.
1. The bean dehullers, millers and air-fractionation facilities are not co-localised, or
co-owned. Centralising processing would improve commercial efficiency.
2. A commercial-scale air (or wet) protein-starch fractionation plant for beans remains to be established in the UK.
3. A major commercial hurdle is the value which must be realised by the bean starch – ca. £300/tonne – to ensure that production of the bean products is economically viable.
4. The starch concentrate is the bulk of the by-product, 80% of the material or 60% of the whole bean. This means that high volume users are required.
5. A ‘wet method’ to isolate protein from bean kernel meal was also investigated but, while the much higher protein content obtained by this method was desirable, the protein yield was low making the economics very challenging. Also, while this method produced pure starch, the cost of production is more than double that of air fractionated starch.
Possible commercial solutions
1. Centralisation of processing facilities (dehullers, millers and fractionators) at centres
of faba bean production: discussions on the partnership possibilities will continue
discretely as the shift to healthier demitarian diets and demand for farmed fish is set for
a large increase globally.
2. Improve levels of protein individual beans to 35% or more: the James Hutton Institute and Limagrain are working together using suitable germplasm developed in the course
of the project. These include types with protein levels of almost 40% protein.
3. Develop higher value products from the bean starch concentrate: the use of the air
fractionated starch for making healthy breads, ales and for distilling has been trialled successfully in collaboration with Barney’s Beer (Edinburgh), Prof. Graeme Walker
(Abertay University, Dundee), and Arbikie Distillery (Manager, Kirsty Black).
4. Increasing the commercial value of the faba bean hulls: would increase the economic viability of the air-fractionation based approach. Since, at 20% of the whole bean, isolated hulls are a significant determinant of the total value which is achieved by all
three fractionated bean components. These commercially-sensitive options are being
explored by academic partners across the UK
5. Examine alternative approaches to protein isolation by processing whole beans: removing the starch from milled whole beans by fermentation and production of high value beer and neutral spirits is proving successful, with high protein by-products
available for exploitation and feeds.
Greg Macvean Photography
Nevertheless, beans4feeds has achieved very strong technical and commercial success
especially in confirming the effectiveness of bean protein - and starch - concentrates as fish
and animal feeds. Also, the identification of promising breeding lines, and the establishment
of genomic capacities which will enable marker assisted breeding projects that will improve
the traits required by food and feed processors in addition to the usual agronomic targets
of yield and disease resistance. Agronomic insight and improvement were also made by
beans4feeds, including the potential of ‘elite rhizobial inoculum’. So, while beans remain a
very profitable crop increasing the demand via new markets using bean concentrates will
only add to their profitability. For more information readers should visit
www.beans4feeds/projectreports or contact: pete.iannetta@hutton.ac.uk
t: 01780 782585 www.pgro.org e: info@pgro.org
15
The Pulse Magazine is the official journal of the PGRO and is
produced three times a year in Summer, Winter and Spring. It is
widely circulated around the farming community and agricultural
trade and reports on the PGRO’s R&D work on pulse varieties, pests,
diseases and crop protection - as well as general agronomy issues and on pulse markets in the UK and around the world.
Growers of peas and beans qualify for membership of the PGRO by virtue
of the small voluntary levy on produce sold through the merchant trade.
Grower membership of the PGRO has the following
benefits:
• Full access to the PGRO
website (www.pgro.org) and
to all the updates, technical
information and associated
services provided there.
• Access to the new PGRO
online discussion forum
where topical updates are
aired and experiences of
fellow pulse growers shared.
• The PGRO is accessible for
two-way communication
via social media on
twitter@pgroresearch.
• Short and succinct PGRO Crop
Updates emailed throughout
the growing season highlight
topical issues as and when
appropriate.
• Pulse Market Updates are
published and circulated on
a monthly basis to registered
members.
• Advice from the PGRO team is
only a phone call away.
Keeping in touch with the PGRO
is easy and, as a levy paying
grower member - or if you are a
paid up associate member - all
you have to do is phone us or
register online and provide your
brief contact details to obtain
your login.
Processors and Growers Research Organisation
P G RO
The Research Station, Great North Road, Thornhaugh, Peterborough, PE8 6HJ
Tel: +44(0) 1780 782585
www.pgro.org
Fax: +44(0) 1780 783993
email: info@pgro.org
twitter: @pgroresearch