Abstract
It is recognised that one of the main causes for the relative low yields under organic conditions is the use of modern cultivars which are bred for high-input management systems. The work described here aimed to study and test possible breeding strategies to produce cultivars of common bean for organic agriculture. To this purpose, crosses between a traditional Italian landrace named “Gnocchetto” and a cultivar were carried out. The F1 plants obtained were either backcrossed or self-fertilised and the obtained materials subjected to selection for quality traits at different development stages. The resulting lines were tested under four different environmental conditions for three years in order to determine their potential performance. The resulting data were analysed using a Multi-Environment Trial Analysis (MET) approach and different visualisations of the GGE biplot were generated. Furthermore, to assess the level of genetic similarity, the lines were characterised using 25 Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) molecular markers. Results showed that the breeding approach applied allowed to select lines with the same technological and agronomic characteristics as commercially available cultivars, but with different adaptation abilities that make them suitable for organic agriculture.
Highlights
The demand for organic food is currently increasing worldwide and interest in organic agriculture has grown significantly [1]
Ponisio et al [14] built a hierarchical meta-analytic model to better dissect and estimate the yield gap between the two management systems. They found that organic yields are, on average, 19.2% (±3.7%) lower than conventional, while, in contrast to the previous studies, their results demonstrated a lack of significant differences in yield gaps for leguminous versus non-leguminous crops and perennials versus annuals; even more interestingly, results showed that agricultural diversification practices such as rotations or multi-cropping can reduce the yield gap between the two management systems
This paper reports on the yield evaluation of 17 common bean lines bred for organic agriculture that were developed from a cross between a landrace and a commercial cultivar
Summary
The demand for organic food is currently increasing worldwide and interest in organic agriculture has grown significantly [1] Behind this trend, there is the consumer perception that organic products are healthier, safer and more beneficial for the environment and biodiversity when compared to those produced under conventional management systems [2]. Ponisio et al [14] built a hierarchical meta-analytic model to better dissect and estimate the yield gap between the two management systems They found that organic yields are, on average, 19.2% (±3.7%) lower than conventional, while, in contrast to the previous studies, their results demonstrated a lack of significant differences in yield gaps for leguminous versus non-leguminous crops and perennials versus annuals; even more interestingly, results showed that agricultural diversification practices such as rotations or multi-cropping can reduce the yield gap between the two management systems
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