The John Innes Centre (JIC) is leading a £1.5 million research project in collaboration with pea breeders, growers and processors to hone the make-up of a perfect pea.
Together, they hope to discover how taste and tenderness can be determined by biochemistry and genetics and what the likely benefits of greater uptake of pea-growing are for the environment.
The project is expected to last three-and-a-half years and will work with material of the 3,500 pea varieties John Innes holds to develop improved varieties.
Dr Claire Domoney of the JIC said: “High-quality peas will fetch a high price in the food market. If more farmers can be encouraged to grow these as a rotation crop we can reduce the carbon footprint of UK agriculture by reducing the amount of nitrogen fertiliser needed.”
Legumes such as peas are able to take nitrogen from the air and replenish soil levels but profit margins do not make them very popular among growers. This research hopes to identify the determinants of quality in peas through the study of genetics and then to develop superior lines with sought-after traits of taste and tenderness, to create new markets and drive up profit margins. The research will also establish new methods for assessing maturity in the field and may be applied to other food crops.
The LINK project is funded jointly by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and DEFRA.
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