Scientists unlock the code to breeding better peas in Australia

Peas are a crucial crop for Australian farmers due to their versatility and reliable yields across a range of environments and soil types. A source of protein, starch, fiber and minerals, peas are also a valuable rotation crop due to their ability to improve the soil that they grow in without using industrial fertilizers. This makes understanding their genetic makeup a priority, with research now unveiling high-quality reference genomes to understand crop domestication and accelerate genetic improvement."In the past decades, next-generation sequencing technology has greatly facilitated crop genomics studies, leading to a better understanding of genome architecture," explained Professor Rajeev Varshney, who is one of the project leaders."We have applied this ...