We've Bean around the Block

Episode 10 of 21: Deidre and the 4 decades

We’ve bean around the block host Antony Jarvie interviews Dr Deidre Fourie to celebrate the last four decades of bean research at the Grain Crops Research Institute in Potchefstroom. Deidre has recently retired from leading the team, and the interview covers the last 4 decades of bean research, organized in eras and covers the major decisions, developments and achievements. The intent of the show is to give credit the characters that have dedicated their lives to bean improvement in southern Africa.

The Willem Vermeulen era

Establishment of the disease-free certification scheme, which is the bed-rock of our current industry. The diseases which were included in the scheme and the seed production areas and protocols that still stand today are discussed.

The Liebenberg era

The brave decision to deploy the ‘I’ gene (more on this is published on the Plant Breeders website). The building of an amazing breeding team, with  Andries Liebenberg leading this with his agronomy background. Further including Brian Edington with a genetics background, Meri Liebenberg with her mycology expertise and Deidre Fourie with her bacteriology background.

The Fourie era

Following the retirement of Andries and Meri, Deidre took over the helm. She has been able to (single handedly) maintain the plant breeding momentum built over several decades and still develop and release new and innovative products. Her retirement leaves the GCRI at a crossroads in its history. What can the GCRI do to maintain the momentum of the last 40 years? Some funding ideas are shared.

 The show is wrapped up with two plant breeding stories, explaining how some of South Africa’s favorite bean cultivars were developed.

Episode 9 of 21: Soybean maturity

 In this episode of ‘We’ve bean around the block’, host Antony Jarvie and Grant Pringle wrestle with the topic of soybean maturity. It is such an influential factor in soybean cultivar adaptation, that it warrants detailed discussion. Maturity in soybean is dictated by both genotype and environment and the complex interactions that govern the expression, commonly causes uncertainty in production. The effect of latitude is demonstrated by comparing two locations with similar temperatures but differing latitudes. Then a similar comparison is made between locations that have the same latitude but differ in altitude. Latitude affects daylength and altitude affects temperature. Both variables interact to trigger flowering, and the speed at which the crop runs through the reproductive stage is driven by heat unit accumulation during the season. A discussion on how Relative Maturity grouping is calculated and the importance of accuracy in this ensues. Finally, Grant discusses the uniquely concise way in which Pannar group their varieties for the purpose of cultivar recommendation. 

Episode 8 of 21: Sclerotinia, White mould in soybeans 

In this episode of ‘We’ve bean around the block’, podcast host Antony Jarvie talks to Dr Lisa Rothmann about Sclerotinia, which is without doubt the most serious pathogen limiting soybean production in South Africa. Lisa is a plant pathologist and researcher associated with the UFS, specializing in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, commonly known as white mould. Sclerotinia is a major disease of many important agronomic crop species, including dry beans and sunflower but the discussion in this episode is quite soybean centric. In a ten-year survey commissioned by the Crop Estimates Committee, the prevalence of Sclerotinia in different seasons was as low as 7% and as high as 55%. Different regions also varied in prevalence, but it was important in all the major soybean production regions. The life cycle of the pathogen is discussed concentrating on sclerotia, the melanised structure that allows the white mould to survive in debris or soil for many seasons and to re-infect crops in the future. Germinating sclerotia form small fruiting structures called apothecia, which release ascospores that infect susceptible host plants. Soybeans are most susceptible to infection during their flowering period, and as the infection progresses, characteristic white mould colonises the plant. Sclerotia are formed when the white mycelia harden and may remain embedded in the infected stems of the plants or dispersed on the soil surface during the harvesting process. Sclerotia are often of similar size to soybean grain, which means that they could potentially land up in amongst seed, if the conditioning processes are not sensitive enough to remove them. In order to prevent seed from being a major source of re-infection of fields, the South African seed certification scheme limits the presence of sclerotia in certified seed bags to 0.2%. Beside using good quality seed, producers can also limit the impact of Sclerotinia on their crop by rotating with a grass species crop like maize, utilizing cultural practices like plant population and row width to make conditions less favourable for infection. The pros and cons of tillage and cultivar maturity and habit are discussed.  Any action that is aimed at reducing the number, viability or lifespan of sclerotia should be considered because it is a long-term solution that targets the problem, not just the symptom. Scouting for apothecia during the season assists in establishing the crop risk, helping with the decision of whether to spray or not to spray. Recognising the apothecia could be aided by the photos on the Sclerotinia Research Network. This website also has a hotline, and you may use this to contact the experts directly for specialist opinion.

Further reading: There are several good local articles on Sclerotinia in soybean, the one in SAGrain Mag by Hanlie du Plessis offers great insights.   

Episode 7 of 21: The End Point Royalty in soybeans

‘We’ve bean around the block’ host Antony Jarvie interviews John Odendaal about the End Point Royalty system, now in its third collection season in South Africa for soybean grain. John is the National Marketing manager for the Pannar brand of seed, and as such has been instrumental in positioning the company to accommodate this form of revenue collection. In South Africa, the EPR is in fact a statutory levy imposed on grain deliveries that has the aim of compensating institutions for cultivar development and trait deployment. A defined portion of the levy is ear-marked for transformation projects within the industry. Legislation allows for farmers to retain grain for the purposes of planting on their own farms, and the soybean industry has historically been characterized high levels (in excess of 80%) of farm-saved-seed. This has negatively impacted cultivar development and new technology deployment, so the EPR was implemented to correct this. The revenue collected is apportioned to the companies based on cultivar market share. The market share is determined by a formula based on certified seed sales, farmer declaration and genetic fingerprinting. John and Antony discuss how the EPR has impacted the producer, the processor and the seed business. Of course, the question is asked ‘Has the EPR had the desired effect?’ This is answered with evidence of reduced seed prices, increased company involvement, improved cultivar registration and confirmation of a number of new traits in the process of de-regulation.

For those who would like to hear about a similar system in operation in Australia, listen to Hanna Senior’s podcast interview with Tress Walmsley https://soundcloud.com/user-528708317-524990744/s2e5-plant-breeding-stories-tress-walmsley

Episode 5 of 21: Cane and beans- It is a crop rotation strategy, not a cocktail.

In this podcast episode of ‘We’ve Bean around the Block’ host Antony Jarvie joins up with sugar cane extension specialist Dave Wilkinson to discuss the prospects of Sugar cane – Sugar bean rotation. In an industry that is threatened by oversupply and a need for diversification, sugar cane growers are looking for a suitable rotation crop that will fit into their cropping cycles. The sugar cane area of adaptation is subset of the area of adaptation of dry beans. Commercially, most of the country’s bean crop is grown on the highveld, but dry beans are well suited to planting in the warmer ‘cane areas’ areas with later planting dates. The potential problems for cane-bean rotations are discussed, including the probability of herbicide residues. The steep slopes of coastal sugar cane crops make that area less accessible to mechanized bean planting and harvesting, but around 70% of the cane in the KZN midlands region would have suitable slopes for mechanized production. Cane farmers as a group are not exposed to the intricacies of disposing of their crop on the free market, so getting involved in bean grain sales may provide a challenge to some. One of the solutions offered on this podcast is for cane producers to ‘twin’ their bean production with a current bean producer from the highveld production areas, thereby offering risk mitigation to both groups. The bean industry in South Africa desperately needs to raise hectarage to compete for research and input supplier attention and rotating cane with beans would thus serve both industries. 

Episode 4 of 21: Driving soybean yield

In this podcast episode of ‘We’ve Bean around the Block’ host Antony Jarvie and guest Grant Pringle analyze the factors that are driving soybean yields. Grant, who is a repeat guest to the show, is a product agronomist with Pannar Seed who has his finger on the pulse of the soybean grain production. In this episode, Grant gives examples of the massive yields that are being recorded this season, which leads to discussion on the factors driving these yields. The effect of the wet season is considered, before using the top yield rather than the mean yield as a measure of progress. The example of using a top yield 40 years ago compared to this season shows that the progress has been roughly 4 t/ha or 100kg/ha per year for the forty-year period. Factors which have changed in these forty years that could have contributed towards this progress are discussed. The effects of weed control, crop rotation, reduced tillage, cultivar, fertilization and the use of precision equipment are discussed. The parting discussion is on raising the South African National yield average. The ideal tool to start attacking this average is the yield monitor widely found within modern combine harvesters. This precision-agriculture tool allows producers to pin-point low yielding areas within a field and to develop strategies to remedy them. 

Episode 3 of 21: Soybean rust control: A stitch in time…

In this podcast episode of ‘We’ve Bean around the Block’, sponsored by Pannar Seed, host Antony Jarvie interviews his guest Dr Rikus Kloppers about chemical control of soybean rust. In his long career, Rikus has worked on the genetic defense of crops through pathology and biotechnology services and now has turned his hand at chemical protection of the crop. He has a truly 360 degree vision of crop protection, making him the perfect guest for the show. In this episode, the fungicidal control of soybean rust is dealt with by looking at: ‘When’; ‘What’; ‘How’. Control treatments are made after flowering of the crop and before symptoms are visible. A strong case is made for ‘A stitch in time, saves nine’; preventative action is critical for good control of soybean rust. The contrast is made between maize rust and soybean rust, where some Strobilurin products may cause cessation of sporulation in maize rust but not in the case of soybean rust. In terms of ‘What’ to spray, there are 33 products registered for soybean rust control in South Africa. Many of them are combination products with more than one active ingredient. Combining multiple modes of action is an important strategy in fungicide stewardship, and if this is combined with different products in a spraying sequence, it adds robustness and longevity to the programme. The fungicide needs to penetrate down to the lower leaves within the crop canopy to be effective. The ‘How’ this is done is not important, whether it is ground or aerial application, the important factors are good droplet distribution and effective penetration. The direction of new product development is not only to improve effectiveness but also to improve safety. As new genetic traits are added to the crop, the value of the crop increases and thus the protection of the crop yield becomes more important.   

Episode 2 of 21: Dean the bean
We’ve Bean around the Block is a podcast hosted by Antony Jarvie, and his guest for the episode is Dean Brown, Operations director of Pidelta. Pidelta annually produce around 600ha of dry beans, as part of their seed maize rotation strategy. Pidelta pioneered bean production in the KZN midlands back in the 1980s, with production of very disease resistant Carioca bean types. They transitioned to speckled sugar types as the varieties and technology improved and now produce upwards of 1500t of sugar beans for the local market annually. Despite choosing cultivars with good rust and angular leafspot resistance like PAN 9216 and PAN 9213, Dean still schedules 3 fungicide sprays combined with insecticide sprays to shepherd the crop though to harvest. The more upright cultivars combined with a tight pull-to-combine schedule has improved their harvest losses due to weather staining. This has been assisted by an investment in a high through-put electronic eye that helps remove the discolored grain from the crop. Much of the crop is bought by a few regular customers, but a portion of the crop is marketed via an on-line platform.    Finally, Sclerotinia is probably their largest disease concern, and this limits their flexibility in terms of row spacing and ultimately, their ability to harvest the crop directly with a combine. In all, Pidelta have a dry bean production programme that has stood the test of time and which fills a very important rotation spot in their overall farming practice. They certainly have 'bean' around the block.

Episode 1 of 21 is entitled ‘Rust Never sleeps’ and will really be focused on soybean rust or ASR. This episode is sponsored by Pannar Seed. The studio guest for this show is Grant Pringle, a product agronomist with many years of field experience.   

The title of the podcast comes from Neil Young’s  1979 rock album. He was likely referring to iron oxidation not ASR, but  the same principle applies… you cannot get complacent with ASR. Antony and Grant discuss the current cropping season. Sclerotinia has been a major problem and farmers have been dealing with it in different ways. The rooting and nodulation habits of soybean are also discussed, before the main topic, soybean rust is considered in depth.

The history of soybean rust is touched on, and how fortunate the country was to have neighbouring Zimbabwe get the infection before RSA. This gave the research community the ability to prepare and reduce the impact of the disease when it arrived. The disease triangle is discussed with reference to the source of the inoculum, the environmental conditions required for infection and the susceptibility of the soybean host. The areas of production that are most affected, the strategies used for timing spray applications, and the way that this fits into production practice are debated. Finally, it is concluded that the nett effect of soybean rust has been to add a level of complexity to production but is has in doing so probably lifted the average yields in the affected areas. The crops are looked after better, the insect control is better, the grain quality has improved, and the crops are staying photosynthetically active longer.