• Faba Beans
• Crop Rotation
• Soil Health
• Sustainability
• University of Saskatchewan

Objective

To improve the nitrogen (N) contribution of pulses in the cropping rotation by assessing the N budget of faba bean. To measure the biomass and nitrogen content of a range of faba bean genotypes and cultivars. To assess the N fixation ability of faba bean genotypes by shoot N metabolism under typical dryland prairie conditions and controlled stress conditions. To develop a ureide- and specific amino-acid screening technique to economically screen for high N fixation.

Outcome

The predictive methods developed were able to predict shoot biomass and total nitrogen (N) content of the shoot to about 70% accuracy based on the stem data from which they were generated, and detect half of the top five ranked genotypes. Such methods can allow for the screening for higher shoot growth, greater N acquisition, and greater amounts of N fixed by using a stem fraction in early reproductive growth, without requiring reference plots.