The BELIS project held its second annual meeting from 9-11 September 2025 at the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops (IFVC) in Novi Sad, Serbia. This three-day event gathered 65 participants from across Europe to share achievements, coordinate upcoming activities, and explore innovative pathways for legume breeding improvement.

During the meeting, we had the opportunity to record several interviews with different members of the consortium. Click on each image to watch the video of the interviews on the BELIS YouTube channel.

BELIS is creating and coordinating a network of legume breeders and users, gathering members of the project teams and external actors interested in legume breeding. BELIS Network brings together the legume breeding community around themes of shared interest, and identifies areas of technical collaboration on species, target traits, breeding methodologies, protocols for phenotyping and genotyping, registration procedures, technical training and knowledge exchange. The Network also facilitates business collaborations for carrying out benchmarking activities aimed at policy-makers (such as regulatory institutions and national and EU managers) to promote and request support for legume breeding activities. 

The BELIS network, gathering private and public breeders, actors of scientific research, extension services, registration offices as well as seed, food and feed industries is the first gateway to disseminate and exploit the BELIS activities and results. If you are a professional involved in the legume breeding value chain, and you are interested in receiving more information about BELIS activities and results and joining our Network, subscribe to BELIS Newsletter to stay tuned to the project.

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) productivity and ecosystem services are influenced by susceptibility to anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum trifolii. To locate resistance genes, 417 accessions were phenotyped and 380 genotyped for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and genomic prediction. Resistance varied widely, with newer and American accessions showing higher resistance. Six QTLs explaining 58% of variation were identified, two major ones on chromosome 8. Genomic prediction achieved 85% accuracy. These findings demonstrate strong potential for using molecular markers and genomic prediction to enhance anthracnose resistance in alfalfa breeding programs. [Read more]

This study investigated resistance to Aphanomyces euteiches, the causal agent of Aphanomyces root rot, across faba bean, lentil, and Medicago truncatula. Using QTL mapping and GWAS, resistance loci were identified in a faba bean recombinant inbred line population and a lentil diversity panel, while previous M. truncatula mapping was updated with 1,536 new SNPs. Comparative analysis using the OrthoLegKB database revealed weak genomic conservation of resistance QTL among the studied legumes and with pea. These findings advance understanding of legume resistance mechanisms and cross-species QTL relationships. [Read more]

Legumes are essential for achieving protein autonomy and food sovereignty in both Europe and Africa, where chronic protein deficits persist. Beyond production, they contribute to closing the nitrogen cycle, improving human nutrition, and reducing pesticide use. As food and feed sources, seed and forage legumes supply high-quality protein and fiber, supporting balanced diets and sustainable livestock systems. Their integration in cropping systems enhances soil fertility, reduces synthetic fertilizer needs, and strengthens crop rotations. Expanding legume value chains could create rural employment, but greater research and investment are urgently required. [Read more]

Aphanomyces euteiches root rot is a major threat to pea (Pisum sativum L.), and developing resistant varieties is essential due to limited control options. To identify new genomic regions conferring partial resistance, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted on 323 pea accessions. Twenty-seven significant markers were detected across all seven chromosomes, with key associations on chromosomes 2 and 5 identified for the first time. Twenty-one candidate resistance genes were proposed. These novel QTLs and markers provide valuable tools for enhancing A. euteiches resistance and improving precision breeding strategies.[Read more]

The results of the qualitative expert survey clearly show that there is a considerable need for research in the field of for-age legumes regarding the collection and processing of reliable data. If the acreage, regional concentration and utilisation pathways of small-seeded forage legumes are hardly visible in statistics or only visible in collective categories, their actual importance for protein supply, climate-adapted crop rotations and the provision of agroecological services remains largely a ‘black box’. Improving the data basis is therefore not only a technical requirement, but also a central requirement for adequately considering the im-portance of these crops in policy advice, breeding strategies and operational decisions. [Read more]

Integrating previously published QTLs and GWAS results for yield and drought related traits and projecting the significant markers onto the physical reference genome we identified overlapping regions and mine candidate genes within those intervals. The results of this study significantly advance our understanding of the genetic architecture of various traits and provide useful information of candidate genes that might have potential for selection in future faba bean breeding programs. [Read more]