This work package assesses how different faba bean varieties and management regimes impact productivity, quality, and environmental benefits across a series of field trials conducted on University of Reading and partner farms.
- Addressing knowledge gaps in UK faba bean agronomy. Management trials will study the impact of nutrient treatments and rhizobial stimulants on yield over 3 seasons, as well as assessing variety-dependent legacy effects in rotation.
- Quantifying Sustainability Performance. The management trials above will be comprehensively audited to measure genotype, rhizobium population diversity and management-dependent variation in nitrogen and carbon cycling. Dependence on and value to pollinators will also be studied.
- Farm Gate Produce Quality. Finally, using representative samples harvested from these trials, the effects of management, variety and cropping system effects on seed nutritional composition including protein content, nitrogen-sulfur balance, and end-use quality will be assessed.