Longwan 5: A Semi-Leafless Sugar Snap Pea Cultivar Resistant to Powdery Mildew

Abstract

Garden pea (Pisum sativum L.) is an important legume crop, which is widely planted in Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and Sichuan Basin of southwest China. It has developed rapidly in spring planting agroecological zone in Northwest China in recent years. The major constraints to its cultivation are lodging and infection of powdery mildew. Breeding of high yielding cultivars resistant to powdery mildew is of great significance for the sustainability of pea production, because few local garden pea cultivars are resistant to the disease. Varietal diversification is needed to develop pea cultivars with resistance to lodging and powdery mildew. Breeding work was initiated to develop a high-yielding garden pea cultivar with medium maturity, double podding and resistance to powdery mildew. Longwan 5 (X9002) is high yielding, superior quality, multiple resistance, and climate resilient garden pea cultivar developed by hybridization between Shuanghua 101 and Baofeng 3. It is a semi-leafless pea variety with superiority over existing approved varieties Qizhen 76 and Xucai 1 in terms of green pod yield, medium maturity, and double podding. Longwan 5 gave a significantly higher average green pod yield (12,376 kg/ha) than check varieties Qizhen 76 (11,132 kg/ha) and Xucai 1 (11,649 kg/ha) across five locations and three years, which was 11.2% and 6.3% higher than control varieties, respectively. This variety is tolerant to lodging, powdery mildew disease, and wide climate resilient for spring cultivation as well as for autumn cultivation in irrigated conditions or rain-fed agricultural areas with annual precipitation of 450–650 mm in China. Cultivation of this variety on large scale will surely increase the production of peas in China and will also prove beneficial for farmers increasing their income.