Vicia faba L. (Faba bean )

Crop Type: Garden Crop

Breeding system: Predominantly autogamous

Because of its high seed yield, faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is a major staple food and legume feed in many countries worldwide. The top five producers are China, Australia, France, United Kingdom and Egypt (Crop Trust 2019). Its critical role in crop rotation, effective nitrogen fixation and soil improvement ability has been widely recognized (Wang et al. 2012). Worldwide there are circa 38,000 accessions conserved by 37 collections; the largest and most important one is held by ICARDA (International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas) accounting circa 9,000 accessions.

Despite many studies, the geographic origin of the species and its evolution is still unclear. The taxonomic classification of faba bean is various. According to seed traits, in 1931, Muratova defined two subspecies: paucijuga and eu-faba, having the latter three variants: minor Beck, equina pers and faba (major Harz.). In 1972, Hanelt proposed a new taxonomical subdivision according to different pod and seed traits; he recognized two subspecies: minor and faba, the latter having two variants faba and equina.

Faba is considered a partially allogamous species: the level of allogamy can be both considerable and variable with mean values around 30-60% (Suso and Maalouf 2010).

Outcrossing may vary according to different environmental conditions, in particular the composition of the pollinator fauna (Suso et al. 2001).

References

• Crop Trust (2019) Faba bean. In: Crop Trust. webpage. www.croptrust.org/crop/faba-bean/. Accessed 12 Mar 2019
• Maxted N, Ambrose M (2001) Peas (Pisum L.). In: Maxted N, Bennet SJ (eds) Plant genetic resources of legumes in the mediterranean. SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V., pp 181–190
• Sayar MS, Han Y (2016) Forage yield performance of forage pea (Pisum sativum spp. arvense L.) genotypes and assessments using GGE biplot analysis. J Agric Sci Technol 18:1621–1634.
• Suso MJ, Maalouf F (2010) Direct and correlated responses to upward and downward selection for outcrossing in Vicia faba. F Crop Res 116:116–126. doi: 10.1016/j.fcr.2009.12.001
• Suso MJ, Pierre J, Moreno MT, et al (2001) Variation in outcrossing levels in faba bean cultivars: role of ecological factors. 399–405.
• Wang H fei, Zong X xiao, Guan J ping, et al (2012) Genetic diversity and relationship of global faba bean (Vicia faba L.) germplasm revealed by ISSR markers. Theor Appl Genet 124:789–797. doi: 10.1007/s00122-011-1750-1

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