Present status and future strategy in breeding faba beans (Vicia faba L.) for resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses

Progress is being made, mainly by ICARDA but also elsewhere, in breeding for resistance to Botrytis, Ascochyta, Uromyces, and Orobanche; and some lines have resistance to more than one pathogen. The strategy is to extend multiple resistance but also to seek new and durable forms of resistance. Internationally coordinated programs are needed to maintain the momentum of this work. Tolerance of abiotic stresses leads to types suited to dry or cold environments rather than broad adaptability, but in this cross-pollinated species, the more hybrid vigor expressed by a cultivar, the more it is likely to tolerate various stresses.