Achievements in breeding autumn-sown annual legumes for temperate regions with emphasis on the continental Balkans

Annual legumes represent one of the basic elements of the agriculture of Serbia. Until recently, only annual forage legumes such as pea or vetches were autumn-sown in Serbia and other neighbouring regions of the continental Balkan Peninsula. During the last decade, the first crucial steps in the development of autumn-sown grain legumes were made, with emphasis on dry pea, faba bean and dual-purpose vetches. The winter forage pea cultivars developed in Serbia are generally characterised by prominent winter hardiness and a rather extended growing season, usually beginning with sowing in early October and ending either by cutting for forage production in late May or harvesting seeds in mid-July. One of the strategic advantages of recently released cultivars of autumn-sown dry pea is their significantly improved earliness. The Serbian winter dry pea cultivar Mraz, newly registered in Serbia and developed from hybrids between French and Serbian autumn-hardy materials, is regularly at least a week earlier than winter barley, so many farmers will not have to choose between pea and cereals due to limited harvesting resources. The initial material for pre-breeding autumn-sown faba bean in the conditions of Serbia consisted of both collected local landraces of Serbia and populations from France and Germany. The preliminary results of their agronomic performance showed that they have a great potential for high grain yield in the conditions of Serbia. Promising results in breeding winter hardy cultivars were achieved with several vetch species, as well as with lentil and grass pea, and will be continued with more species including Medicago truncatula .