Contribution to legume breeding on European level: BELIS project

The legume industry requires improved varieties tailored to various regions and applications to address identified challenges. The EU-funded BELIS project (2023-2028) aims to enhance competitiveness in legume breeding by refining methodologies and governance structures. Additionally, it facilitates the transfer of genetic advancements to industry players and farmers, ultimately boosting biodiversity and ecosystem services. The project is focused on seven forage legumes and seven grain legumes that are currently grown to produce feed (for ruminants – cattle, sheep, goat and monogastric animals – pig, poultry), food (as is or after processing) or to deliver ecosystem services. BELIS team is actively developing cost-effective breeding programmes and tools, providing breeders with proofs of concept, and navigating economic and regulatory environments. Within the scope of the project, IFVCNS is developing protocols for abiotic stresses, working on phenotypic and molecular breeding as proofs of concept and contributing to the variety recommendation on EU level for various legume crops. As part of the collaborative efforts to highlight how Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) tests and protocols could be improved in several partner countries in Europe, the project contributes to the study and comparison of existing VCU trial methodologies. Comprehensive data were collected from technical questionnaires regarding trial setups, operational or cultivation practices, and traits currently monitored in VCU testing across Europe. These data were supplemented by the identification of additional traits to improve the performance assessment of new legume varieties on EU level.