Grasspea

Grasspea (Lathyrus sativus L.) is versatile crop grown for food, feed and fodder in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and to a limited extent in Central and West Asia, North Africa, southern Europe and South America. It is grown mainly for food in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Nepal and Pakistan and for feed and fodder in other countries. It is cultivated for its tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, ability to fix nitrogen, penetrating root system and high protein content and plays a vital role in sustainable farming systems. Increasing the cultivation of grasspea will contribute significantly to mitigating the impacts of climate change and minimizing the environmental footprint associated with increased food production. 

However, grasspea has limitations as human food because it contains a neurotoxin, β-ODAP, that can cause paralysis and brain damage if too much is eaten over a long period. 

Challenges 

The main challenge with grasspea breeding is to develop varieties with low neurotoxin contents and good agronomic and nutritional properties. Grasspea displays characteristics such as late maturity, pod shattering, prostrate-spreading plant habit and indeterminate growth, all of which pose constraints on its cultivation. 

Its productivity can also be seriously affected by the noxious weed broomrape (Orobanche sp.) and by aphids, which are among the most destructive insect pests on cultivated plants in temperate regions. 

Building on the Crop Wild Relatives Project 

The Crop Wild Relatives Project identified grasspea wild relatives with low levels of the neurotoxin and crossed these with cultivated grasspea varieties to begin the process of developing new varieties that are safer to eat in large quantities. More than 250 pre-breeding lines were advanced through “speed breeding” and multiplied for on-farm testing. The BOLD Project will build on these pre-breeding efforts in Bangladesh, India and Nepal and will include Bhutan and Sudan in capacity building of researchers.