Faba bean for future food and feed - phase 2

Sweden, like the rest of Europe, is currently dependent on imported soybeans to meet the demand for plant-based protein, which is largely used for animal feed.
Our vision is to meet Sweden’s demand for protein-based food and feed products by increasing local production of high-quality protein crops.

Faba bean (Vicia faba) is one of the legume crops with a high protein content that is already grown in Sweden today, but only on a maximum of three percent of the arable land in certain regions, and the harvest is used almost exclusively for feed.

New faba bean varieties adapted for Swedish growing conditions and for food applications will provide increased economic value for farmers and can improve Sweden’s self-sufficiency in protein crops. Expanding the cultivation of legume crops is also environmentally beneficial, as these plants are able to fix atmospheric nitrogen.

Between 2019 and 2022 (Phase I), a breeding program for faba bean was initiated at Lantmännen within the framework of SLU Grogrund. At the same time, we characterized a seed collection consisting of 220 different Vicia faba accessions through field trials, assessing both agronomic and seed quality traits. We identified genetic markers for traits such as flowering time and seed size. In parallel, we conducted basic research on the genetic regulation of seed development in faba bean, which controls seed quality.

Since 2023 (Phase II), we are building on these results, and the most promising breeding lines are now being evaluated in field trials at three locations in Sweden. A subset of plant material from the seed collection is also included in these trials, forming what is known as a training population. We will genotype (DNA sequence) this training population in order to take an important step toward implementing genomic selection in our breeding program.

Genomic selection is a method used to estimate the genetic value of candidate lines, enabling more precise selection of superior parent lines for breeding.

During Phase II, we are also working on seed quality traits that are important for food applications — including investigating which factors in faba beans affect cooking quality and the processing of raw material into protein concentrates.