by PressScientists from Switzerland: peas will be one of the best marginal crops
Scientists breed new crop peas for cultivation in Switzerland
Against the background of the popularization of abandoning meat in favor of plant protein, experts believe that peas will become one of the most marginal crops in the coming years. This plant is considered extremely versatile and can be used not only for food. Peas help retain nitrogen in the soil and are also considered more gentle on the land than some other crops. It also has a high nutritional value for humans and animals alike.
Scientist Agata Leska has been studying and breeding various varieties of peas for 10 years. She has done a tremendous amount of work on the culture, brought from different countries. The goal of the researcher is to identify a variety that will have the best characteristics in terms of cultivation and nutritional value. Leska grows peas from all over the world in the fields of Switzerland and describes the whole process of their ripening. And each variety has its own characteristics, which the scientist records, which is extremely time-consuming and difficult. Agata researches green, yellow, and black peas, and sometimes she monitors the growth of 120 varieties of the crop at the same time.
And it is important to understand that Swiss fields have their own characteristics, in which not all varieties are able to survive and give good yields. In the process of work, Leska had problems — neither the varieties that she took from plant banks nor the newly bred species were able to fully mature in the soil of Switzerland. So the scientist and her team decided to create their own peas that would be able to adapt to the conditions of the country. The main objective in this case for specialists was to breed a variety that can adapt to the climatic conditions of Switzerland and the peculiarities of its soil. In this case, peas must give a high yield and contain a lot of protein. In addition, the plant’s resistance to various pathogens and its taste is no less important characteristics for peas. According to Agata Leska, she wants to create a variety that not only can be grown in Switzerland, but that has high nutritional value for both animals and humans. To do this, the team manually crosses different species, tests them, and then identifies the best options.
The work of scientists is already showing results. For example, last year was a bad year for pea production in Switzerland, but Agatha’s varieties showed good yield results despite high rainfall and hail during their ripening period. And in this case, it was important that all of the team’s varieties are organic and selected by hand, without the use of genetic modification techniques.