Faba bean varieties developed for needs in Sweden
SLU Grogrund is a centre for breeding food crops in Sweden. Through collaborations with academics and industry, this centre aims to meet the needs described in the Food strategy from the Swedish government 2017. One need described in the Food strategy is an increased self-sufficiency of raw material for food production, and a prerequisite for this is that the farmers have access to varieties of crops that are adapted to Swedish climate conditions. Faba bean or ‘åkerböna’ in Swedish (Vicia faba) is one of the protein crops that is already grown in Sweden today but only in small volumes. However, there is a high potential for increased cultivation of faba bean for use in food. In a research and breeding project on faba bean, financed by SLU Grogrund 2019-2022, a breeding program has been initiated by Lantmännen, and in parallel new plant breeding tools are being developed through research at SLU to make the breeding program more efficient in the future. Desired traits for faba bean are early maturation, disease and drought resistance, high protein content and low levels of antinutritional compounds.

Collaboration between SLU and industry

The SLU Grogrund project on faba bean is a collaboration between the Department of Plant Breeding at SLU, Lantmännen, Kalmar Ölands trädgårdsprodukter, and Sveriges stärkelseproducenter. In June 2022 a project meeting was held in Alnarp, in which several other industrial stakeholders also participated to discuss the possibilities and challenges of the faba bean value chain; from plant breeding, cultivation, and use of the raw material for both food and feed products. The SLU Grogrund project on faba bean hopes that this collaboration can continue into the future. 

The first AQUACOSM-plus transnational access (TA) experiment using the SITES AquaNet infrastructure finished in Mid-August. The experiment investigated functional and compositional consequences of run-off variability and was synchronized at Lake Erken and Bolmen during 6 weeks this summer. It brought together a team that involved 10 TA participants from Spain, Turkey, Ireland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, 5 participants from AQUACOSM-plus partners at IBG and Oldenburg University in Germany, and several local participants from Uppsala and Lund University.

The summer season at Tarfala Research Station (TRS) has been very wet. Heavy rainfall during a couple of days at the end of August brought along temporary and also more permanent changes: Between Lake Tarfala and TRS, Tarfalajokk became so wide and carried so much water that any idea of crossing needed to be dismissed. Lillsjön (translating to “the little lake”) just south of TRS turned into a rather large lake.

After more than two years of travel restrictions and limited field research activity due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Abisko Scientific Research Station is finally back to full speed. The summer of 2022 has been one of the busiest summers in the history of the research station, with the station constantly at – or beyond – full capacity, June through September.

Researchers have been eager to get back to the field to follow up on long-term projects or to initiate new ones. Over the past few months, the station has accommodated more than 70 research projects, driven by an eclectic community of junior and senior researchers, students, field assistants, and interns. With researchers affiliated with institutions spanning more than 12 countries and 3 continents, the vibe has been international, interdisciplinary, and energetic. Projects have covered research fields ranging from biogeochemistry, plant ecology and soil ecology, through microbiology, entomology, limnology and hydrology, to modelling and remote sensing – to give a few examples.

The long-term environmental monitoring programs within ICOS and SITES have also continued successfully, generating high-quality environmental data for long-term monitoring as well as supporting data for associated research projects. In addition to continuous measurements, this summer’s monitoring work included lake chamber flux measurements (SITES Water), extensive vegetation surveys (ICOS) and the development and installation of an improved system for measuring stream O2 and CO2 concentrations (SITES Water).
 
As the summer season slows down, the Abisko Scientific Research Station transitions into a slightly less intense mode, but research continues here throughout the year with an exciting winter season coming up!

The Global Soil Biodiversity Observation Network (Soil BON) is working in partnership with the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (GSBI) and other global and regional partners to increase the monitoring of soil ecosystems. The goal is to connect multi-national partners and initiatives in a worldwide effort to understand soil biodiversity, document how it is changing, how these changes affect people who rely on soil living resources for their well-being and livelihoods, and to better understand how the sustainable use of ecosystems can protect soil biodiversity. To achieve these goals they plan to monitor 1000 locations across the world including Asa Forest Research Station and Aneboda IM along with six other stations in Sweden. The purpose of the sampling is to have two paired sites, one nature conservation site (Aneboda IM) and one non-conservation site (Asa) and the samples need to be from a single habitat type. All eight sites in Sweden are dominated by Norway Spruce.