La Araucanía makes an important scientific contribution to the international lupine congress

Director of the CGNA is part of the International Research Committee of this crop and scientists from this Center contribute with key knowledge for the production of more sustainable vegetable protein.

Miryam Rios Gajardo, Communications Center for Agricultural Nutritional Genomics.- An important recognition of scientific progress in Lupinus luteus received scientists from the Agro-Aquaculture Nutritional Genomics Center, after participating as exhibitors and member of the scientific committee of the “16th C.International Lupine Conference”, an instance where scientists from 22 countries met to seek to improve the potential of this crop.

The urgent need to have high yield and quality vegetable protein, either for human or animal consumption, in addition to improving the mitigation of the impact of climate change on this crop, were some of the objectives of the XVI International Lupine Conference (International Lupine Conference XVI), recently held in Germany.

This year the focus was on “Genetic improvement, cultivation and use of lupines for sustainable agriculture-recent developments” (“Breeding, cultivation and use of lupins for a sustainable agriculture-recent development”).

In this context, the CGNA team was made up of scientists Grace Armijo, Annally Rupayan, Daniela Levicoy, J. Eduardo Hernández, and Haroldo Salvo-Garrido, who gave two presentations and the exhibition of a scientific poster. Dr. Salvo-Garrido also participated as part of the scientific committee and Chair in one of the sessions of the congress.

It should be noted that the poster by the researcher Daniela Levicoy was awarded second place, among the works from Poland (first place) and Germany (third place). “This recognition is very meritorious, since there was a participation of 22 countries. The poster presented the science developed by a team of CGNA scientists in the last 5 years in terms of resistance to anthracnose, its detection via HRM (High Resolution Melting) in recombinant populations and integration and validation in elite lupine plants with high resistance and commercial potential,” said CGNA director Haroldo Salvo-Garrido.

Genetic analysis in a wide panel of genotypes used by breeders from various countries shows that the resistance allele discovered in CGNA for this disease had not been reported in the species L. luteus. “The allele is present in a reduced pool (6%) of wild plants, genetically very distant from genotypes commonly used in genetic improvement. Consequently, this scientific discovery will make an important contribution to the improvement of this species and to the production of more sustainable vegetable protein”, said the researcher, Daniela Levicoy.

In turn, the researcher Annally Rupayan points out that “this also demonstrates the importance of maintaining, preserving and exploring the genetic diversity present in lupine accessions. That’s hard, quiet, long-term work.”

The CGNA is a regional center for science and technology in plants and food financed by the Regional Government of La Araucanía, which positions the Region as a milestone at the national level for the development of science relevant to the territory.

The group of scientists traveled within the framework of the scientific project of the National Research Agency -Anid- called: Signaling and response to environmental stresses in grain legumes.

directory

Finally, note that the PhD in Genomics, Haroldo Salvo-Garrido, was elected by unanimous vote as a member of the Executive Committee (executive board) of “International Lupine Association (ILA)”, International Lupine Associationmade up of eight members.

The ILA board was made up of Jon Clements (Australia), President, Michael Wink (Germany), Vice President, Elena Villacres (Ecuador), Vice President, Brigitte Ruge-Wehling (Germany), Secretary General, Eric von Baer (Chile), Member, Christine Arncken (Switzerland), Member, Paolo Annicchiarico (Italy), Member and Haroldo Salvo-Garrido (Chile), Member

participating countries: Germany, Poland, Spain, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland, Belgium, England, Italy, Canada, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Mexico and Ecuador.

ILA role

ILA conducts activities of importance to society in the area of ​​science and education. Its objectives are exclusively technical and scientific. For this, it regularly organizes meetings to promote science in the genus Lupinus, promoting international collaboration in the areas of germplasm, biology, physiology, morphology, taxonomy, genomics, agronomy, technology, chemistry, economics, nutritional aspects, traditional uses and innovations of lupine seeds and/or plants. It organizes international conferences and provides advances in scientific information to ILA members and related countries/organizations.