BELIS aims to adapt existing screening protocols for powdery mildew in pea to red clover and annual clovers (i.e. Crimson clover). While ILVO focusses on red clover and Cérience on Crimson clover, CSIC supports through their expertise with powdery mildew in pea.

Local powdery mildew isolates were collected on red and Crimson clover in 2024. While Cérience uses detached leaves to maintain the pathogen, ILVO maintains powdery mildew on live plants in a greenhouse. In 2024, Cérience tested several inoculation protocols in Crimson clover: detached leaves vs. plantlets and spraying vs. shaking powdery mildew spores. ILVO optimized a protocol to inoculate red clover plantlets through contact with infected inoculum plants in a greenhouse.

First experiments on sets of control varieties were promising, as the bio-tests reproduced similar degrees of resistance as expected in the field. In addition, results in both clover crops proved sufficiently repeatable, although further work is needed to optimize inoculum production and to reduce the variability of the results. In addition, ILVO is optimizing storage of powdery mildew isolates on in vitro cultures of red clover, which would remove the need to maintain mildew-infected plants continuously throughout the year. Upscaling from in vitro powdery mildew cultures to inoculum plants in the greenhouse will be experimented in 2025.

In a collaborative effort, last 9 of April members from the IFAPA (Córdoba, Spain) have visited the faba bean and chickpea field trials conducted by Agrovegetal at the «La Aceñuela» farm in Escacena del campo (Huelva, Spain). The faba bean assays are focussed in the identification and validation of markers for broomrape resistance. For this purpose, a collection of 200 faba bean lines previously genotyped by IFAPA were selected to complete the GWAS study for broomrape resistance. The materials were sown in November 2024 by Agrovegetal in naturally infested fields using two-row replicated trials with 30 seeds per row. The evaluation of broomrape resistance has started this spring and will be completed by June 2025. The outcomes will fulfil objectives in WP4 (Task 4.2) and WP5 (Task 5.2).

We also visit two chickpea assays, the first consisted in a collection of F2 lines segregating for resistance to Fusarium oxysporum, Ascochyta rabiei and flowering time that will be used to validate the SNP-KASPAR markers previously identified by IFAPA (WP4 and WP5). The second was a chickpea trial corresponding to WP7 (case 3) that will be developed further within a living lab approach in T7.6. The assay showed a high Ascochyta blight disease pressure which resulted in the mortality of most of the susceptible varieties. After the visit, we planned a living lab meeting to be held at the Cooperative Campo de Tejada next June for co-creating innovative forms of collaboration among the value chain-actors of this crop in our agroecological area.

Fascination of Plants Day social media campaign

On the occasion of Fascination of Plants Day, BELIS project and Legume Generation project have prepared a social media campaign, highlighting the importance of legumes and fascinating facts about theses crops.

Legumes play a vital role in sustainable farming practices. They enrich the soil with nitrogen, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers and promoting soil health. Plus, they are packed with essential nutrients, making them a valuable source of protein for millions worldwide.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the humble legumes and their contributions to food security, environmental sustainability and human nutrition.

Focusing on soybean, lupin, pea, lentil, phaseolus bean and clover, Legume Generation strives to boost innovation in breeding for the next generation of legume crops for Europe!

Focusing on 7⃣ forage crops and 7⃣ grain crop, BELIS Project aims to create the conditions for cost-efficient legume breeding and the continuous release of improved varieties tailored to farmers, consumers, and industry needs.

Stay tuned to the social networks of both projects for full details of the campaign!

As part of Work Package 4 “Genetic effects and genotyping tools in legumes”, on June 21, 2024, Bernadette Julier led a meeting with the companies Barenbrug, Cérience, DLF, and RAGT. The purpose was to evaluate the experimental capacity for phenotyping resistance to Verticillium and Ditylenchus dipsaci,  in 400 alfalfa accessions from the INRAE collection.

The plant material had already been genotyped during the previous EUCLEG project. The partners CER, DLF, and R2N scheduled phenotyping tests on the accessions between 2025 and 2027. INRAE sent seed lots and all required control varieties to each partner during the summer of 2024.

During the Teams meeting, DLF committed to conducting phenotyping for resistance to alfalfa stem nematodes (Ditylenchus dipsaci) on 100 accessions provided by INRAE.

Ditylenchus dipsaci, commonly referred to as alfalfa stem nematode or “bulb and stem nematode,” is one of the few nematode species that feed on above-ground plant parts. This nematode is present in nearly every alfalfa-growing region worldwide.

The screening experiments began in January 2025. Two tests were conducted until April, with three more scheduled for the end of 2025.

Before screening the BELIS accessions, DLF adopted the GEVES method, which differs from our internal protocol. GEVES shared its procedure with DLF for screening stem nematode resistance. Ditylenchus dipsaci larvae are obtained from GEVES prior to each inoculation.

Throughout January, several preliminary experiments were carried out to gain confidence in the new protocol. Adjustments were needed for climate conditions, pre-germination days, the number of days before inoculation, inoculum concentration, and phenotyping date.

For the screening, five control varieties are required: Europe (as the susceptible control), Daisy and Ludelis (as intermediate controls), and Mezzo and Salsa (as resistant controls).

The most critical part of the protocol involves laying the seedlings horizontally on paper and carefully rolling them in preparation for inoculation. This time- and patience-consuming step is performed by the team while listening to a variety of background music. This phase is essential for successful inoculation. Two days later, 3,000 plants are inoculated.

Phenotyping takes place 21 days after inoculation. The scoring scale is qualitative, based on the presence of “swollen” plants. Stunted plants typically show swollen nodes and shortened internodes.

For results and analysis, the percentage of swollen plants (G) is calculated for each variety.

These tests will be repeated during 2026 and 2027 as now we are starting the observation season on the field and at nurseries. Ready to see what happens next!

CIHEAM Zaragoza promotes legume biodiverstiy at COP29

CIHEAM hosts side event in the Mediterranean Pavilion at COP29, highlighting climate solutions rooted in Mediterranean food traditions

19 November 2024.- CIHEAM Zaragoza took part in the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29), held in Baku (Azerbaijan), to address the importance of local legume varieties in achieving biodiversity and promoting market scalability in Mediterranean agriculture.

This involvement was part of a side event organised by CIHEAM Secretariat General in the Mediterranean Pavilion, an initiative dedicated to fostering dialogue on climate challenges affecting the Mediterranean region.

The event, titled “Harnessing the power of legumes: Climate solutions rooted in Mediterranean food tradition”, was held online on 19 November. It highlighted the environmental and economic benefits of legumes, emphasizing their potential to mitigate climate change and support sustainable food systems.

“Local legume varieties have been cultivated for centuries in the Mediterranean region, making them uniquely adapted to specific climatic conditions such as drought tolerance, heat resistance, and resilience to pests and diseases”, noted Joaquín Balduque, Project Manager at CIHEAM Zaragoza, during the webinar. “These characteristics make them ideal for low-input farming systems, reducing farmers’ reliance on chemical inputs and conserving natural resources, which in turn positively impacts biodiversity.”

The BELIS project: Advancing genetic progress for legume crops

The discussion further spotlighted the BELIS project, a Horizon Europe initiative in which CIHEAM Zaragoza is a key international partner. BELIS focuses on enhancing the scalability and competitiveness of Mediterranean agriculture through advancements in legume breeding.

This multi-actor consortium includes research and technical institutes, plant breeders, seed companies, and other stakeholders from 18 countries, including Mediterranean nations such as Spain, France, Italy, and Lebanon.

The aim of BELIS is to improve breeding methodologies and governance structures, and to establish conditions that ensure the efficient transfer of genetic advancements to breeders, the seed industry, farmers, and related sectors.

“In essence, BELIS creates the framework to drive significant genetic progress in legume crops, ensuring that improved varieties are readily available to meet cultivation demands”, stressed Balduque.

Discover how BELIS Project contributes to farming sustainability through legume breeding and innovation

BELIS seeks to design conditions that allow an achievement of genetic progress by breeders and its efficient delivery to the seed industry, as well as to other stakeholders.

The BELIS project started on 1^st October 2023, with a consortium of 34 partners, including research and technical institutes, plant breeders and seed companies as well as other relevant actors in legume breeding from 18 countries (15 EU countries, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Lebanon).

Sustainability and competitiveness challenges in legume breeding

Legumes are widely acknowledged to provide multiple benefits in farming and food systems: They are a source of proteins and other nutrients for human and animal consumption, and when included in cropping systems they can fix atmospheric nitrogen, besides other advantages linked to crop rotations. However, their presence in European cropping systems has not reached its potential, and Europe is still highly dependent on plant protein imports. One of the reasons is the lack of sufficient legume varieties that can provide stable and abundant yields adapted to different agro climatic situations and stresses, with quality traits suitable for food and feed.

Less-than-optimal breeding efforts have so far been invested by public and private breeders. But with adequate breeding inputs, the genetic gains in legume crops could reach those obtained in major crops. While legume breeding is mostly based on traditional phenotypic recurrent selection that requires updating, the use of molecular information and exploitation of genetic resources could also increase selection intensity and speed.

In addition, the genetic progress achieved in new varieties could be delivered much more efficiently to the legume value chain actors (farmers, food and feed industry) and the specific requirements of down-stream actors could be better considered in breeding. The first step of genetic progress delivery relies on the variety registration process, ruled at an international level but conducted by national registration offices. The current registration process needs to be improved by putting a stronger focus on the stakeholders’ needs. The second step is to provide adequate information on the available varieties. Extension services could efficiently deliver information to all actors of the legume value chains, and the seed industry is pivotal in the delivery of genetic progress to farmers by granting access to improved seeds. Finally, improved governance and business models should be developed to allow more efficient, profitable and diverse legume varieties to reach farms.

BELIS objectives

As a whole, the BELIS project addresses these challenges and deliver tools and solutions that will enhance the economic sustainability of legume-based farming systems. This ultimate goal is attained through three specific objectives:

1. To develop tools and methodologies for cost-effective breeding programmes and deliver proofs of concept, with and for breeders.
2. To facilitate the economic and regulatory environment: variety registration, variety recommendation and business models.
3. To implement an efficient, ambitious and durable transfer of innovation through the BELIS platform that includes a network of breeders and actors from scientific research, extension services and seed, food and feed industries, as well as a training portfolio.

The project focuses on seven forage crops (red, white and annual clovers, lucerne, sainfoin, birdsfoot trefoil and vetches) and seven grain crops (pea, faba bean, soybean, white lupin, lentil, chickpea and common bean) representing the diversity of legume species cultivated in Europe.

BELIS provides scientific advances and technical innovations on key aspects of the breeding process: genotyping and phenotyping methods and tools, proposals for agronomic and technological characterisation of varieties, cross testing in different conditions, and pathways for improving and homogenising registration processes. All these results will be streamed to design and validate new governance and business models for the legume breeding industry. An ambitious networking, dissemination, capacity building and exploitation plan will help BELIS results and recommendations reach the breeding industry, the farmers and the regulatory bodies.

BELIS contributes to a more competitive legume breeding industry in Europe and to delivering profitable and adapted genetic varieties for European farmers seeking better legume seeds.

On 23^rd January 2025, the Horizon Europe BELIS Project (Breeding European Legumes for Increased Sustainability) will be organising a Webinar on “BELIS Network. Legume breeding for agroecological transition in Europe”. We welcome you to register at the following button:

Webinar objectives

This webinar will address key challenges related to legume breeding in Europe, drawing on the scientific publication Legume Breeding for the Agroecological Transition of Global Agri-Food Systems: A European Perspective by Diego Rubiales et al., 2021.

It will also introduce the European project BELIS – Breeding European Legumes for Increased Sustainability, focusing on 14 legume species, including 7 forage legumes (red clover, white clover, annual clover, alfalfa, sainfoin, bird’s-foot trefoil, and vetches) and 7 grain legumes (pea, faba bean, soybean, white lupin, lentil, chickpea, and common bean).

The main objectives of BELIS are:

• Developing cost-effective breeding tools.
• Improving the economic and regulatory environment for legume breeding.
• Ensuring effective innovation transfer through a network of stakeholders, including breeders and seed industry, researchers, registration offices, extension services, feed and food industry, farmers.

The webinar will also provide an in-depth presentation of the stakeholder network being established within the BELIS project, highlighting its goals, activities, benefits of joining, and the steps to become a member. On this topic, the webinar will offer an interactive space to gather feedback and answer participants’ questions.

Target Audience

This webinar is specifically designed for professionals involved in forage and grain legume breeding and utilization in Europe, including breeders and seed industry, researchers, registration offices, extension services, feed and food industry, farmers.

«I see BELIS as a very promising dual use incredible legume, just starting to bloom its multiple diverse flowers to express all of its power / beauty.« – Carlota Vaz Patto

Introduce yourself, your professional background and your role within the BELIS Project.

I am a Principal Investigator at ITQB NOVA, leading the Genetics and Genomics of Plant Complex Traits research group (PlantX Lab). My group works to uncover the genetic architecture underlying phenotypic variation of complex traits in plants of national interest. I normally pursue a multidisciplinary, participatory research approach to generate scientific knowledge and tools essential for a more precise plant breeding.

I have a PhD in Production Ecology and Resource Conservation by Wageningen University, The Netherlands, obtained in 2001. Earlier degrees include an MSc in Plant Genetic Breeding by CIHEAM, a Post-graduation in Plant Genetic Breeding at IAMZ, both in CIHEAM Zaragoza, Spain, and a University degree in Agronomical Engineering from Lisboa Technical University, Portugal. After defending my PhD, I was a Post-Doc researcher within various foreigner and national Institutions: First at Bologna University, Italy; later on at IFAPA and IAS-CSIC, Córdoba, Spain; and finally at ITQB NOVA in Portugal.

Within BELIS, I am WP3 (New phenotyping tools and protocols) leader. Together with the WP3 co-Leader, Diego Rubiales (CSIC), we prepared and maintain a coherent work plan for the work package, by monitoring, reporting and providing feed-back on the WP progress. In WP3, I am also Task 3.4 (Development/improvement of breeders’ friendly screening tools for innovative quality traits) leader, contributing to the organization of the activities related to quality traits phenotyping tools development or optimization. I am also participating as a researcher (with my UNL team) mainly in WP4 and WP5 where we contribute to common bean’s seed quality and vetch’s drought resistance improvement. These are two complex traits with a growing breeding impact due to climate and consumers concerns changes. I am also Common bean Crop Leader, together with Alexandra Illic (IFVCNS), where we contribute to the facilitation, organization and engagement on joint activities, like ring test trials, of all the partners with an interest in common bean.

Describe BELIS in 1 sentence.

I see BELIS as a very promising dual use incredible legume, just starting to bloom its multiple diverse flowers to express all of its power / beauty.

How do you see BELIS contributing to farming sustainability?

BELIS will work to close the gap between more fundamental plant research and breeding and between breeding and farmers. This will increase the efficiency and efficacy of breeding by demand by closing the circuit that translates fundamental to applied plant research, with real feed-back opportunities.

You are leading Work Package 3 “New phenotyping tools and protocols”. Could you describe the objectives within this WP?

This WP aims to develop new or improve existing phenotyping tools and protocols needed for a more precise breeding. The focus is on traits prioritized by breeders and other value chain relevant actors that need more cost effective and accurate phenotyping tools or protocols to be implemented routinely in breeding programs. These traits may be as diverse as forage biomass and seed yield, resistance to major insect pests and diseases, tolerance to cold or drought and nutritional composition.

«BELIS will work to close the gap between more fundamental plant research and breeding and between breeding and farmers. This will increase the efficiency and efficacy of breeding by demand by closing the circuit that translates fundamental to applied plant research with real feed-back opportunities.« – Carlota Vaz Patto

What is the most challenging part of these new phenotyping tools and protocols?

I think the biggest challenge has to do with the breeders need to be a bit crystal ball gazers…. Will we be able to phenotype, with these tools we are now investing on, the diversity we will need in a very uncertain future?

Could you give us some examples of important legume traits?

From the traits prioritized by breeders and other value chain relevant actors, I may highlight the resistance to insect pests like aphids or weevils which incidence is rising within Europe with the increasing temperatures, or the tolerance to drought due to rain uncertainty, and finally protein and anti-nutrient factors content due to consumers concerns on diet health benefits.

We are within the first year of BELIS. Please give us you feedback on how the project has started since its launch and tell us how you envision the coming months.

By now, all the tasks have already started, even if only through the establishment of the necessary trials or planned seed exchanges. So, partners know exactly what they will do during the next season and the data will start to be collected soon. It feels like the boat is gaining a cruise speed. From now on we just need to kept it rolling…

The developed of a pair of NILs (Near Isogeneic Lines) for flowering time allowed to identify new targets associated this trait. In the main figure above, a pair of chickpea NILs is presented, at flowering time with early genotype showing flowers and late genotype showing no flowers. The gene CaELF3a, in chromosome 5 (Ca5), was identified as a prominent candidate, together wiht other homologs of flowering-related genes in Arabidopsis. This study unveil new insights into mechanisms governing flowering time in chickpea. It is being the basis for developing new KASP^TM markers to accelerate marker-assisted breeding in chickpea programs.  

Ascochyta blight, caused by the fungal pathogen Ascochyta blight (AB), is a devastating biotic stress that poses a significant threat to chickpea cultivation, infecting all above-ground parts of the plant (Figure below). A region strongly associated with AB resistance in Ca4 has been detected in the framework of Task 4.3 – Genotyping collections and research populations, led by IFAPA. The aim is to develop KASP markers to select efficiently resistant genotypes.

Research groups from CREA (Lodi, Italy), University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture UNIZG FAZ (Croatia) and Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops Novi Sad IFVCNS (Serbia) are the partners within the WP4 Genetic effects and genotyping tools in legumes and WP5 Proof of Concept – Breeding of grain legumes of the BELIS project, with activities focused on soybean (Glycine max L.) adapted to southeast-European growing conditions. Main phenotyping trials for our work on developing the genomic selection models for selection of various traits (grain yield and quality, drought tolerance, etc.) will start in 2025, but in 2024 we are actively preparing genetic materials which will be included in trailing. At the experimental field of University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, a set of 115 soybean genotypes (cultivars and breeding lines) has been drilled in late April this year for the purpose of seed multiplication and screening of flowering and maturity time.

Drilling has been executed in almost perfect conditions and warm and rainy Spring allowed the good establishment of genotypes in the field. The same set of material has also been drilled at the experimental fields of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops Novi Sad as backup, while some additional genotypes are also being growing with our partners from CREA (Italy). We are hoping for the good growing conditions in the following months and, hopefully, for the successful harvest in the Autumn which will enable us to continue smoothly with further activities.