Australia
December 10, 2025
.jpg)
Censeo Field and Lab Managing Director Majella Bathurst and Pulse Australia Industry Development Agronomist Paul McIntosh say the new varieties will give growers confidence in mungbeans.
Photo: Lucy RC Photography
Newly released mungbean varieties provide increased confidence in a summer rotation option.
Two new varieties provide growers with increased confidence to use mungbeans as a summer rotation crop, with this year a good time to try them, says Censeo Field and Lab Managing Director Majella Bathurst.
Ms Bathurst leads a GRDC extension project in collaboration with the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, CSIRO and the Australian Mungbean Association.
The aim is to close the mungbean yield gap by providing growers and advisers with the agronomic and management practices needed to grow mungbeans confidently.
While seed for the new mungbean varieties – Brolga and Kookaburra – was not available to all growers last year, some had access for Censeo experiments.
Ms Bathurst says trials indicate that Brolga and Kookaburra give increased yield with a better disease package for growers who are looking for a summer crop.
Short-season crop varieties that show greater resistance to disease have a far better chance of recovery from an incursion, which is what we have seen with Brolga and Kookaburra.
Varieties welcomed
The varieties were developed through the National Mungbean Improvement Program, a co-investment between the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and GRDC, and were developed to provide growers with improved grain quality and disease resistance.
Pulse Australia Industry Development Agronomist Paul McIntosh welcomes the new varieties, noting the breeding effort behind them.
“Kookaburra is better suited to warmer climates with improvements in disease resistance to halo blight, while Brolga has broader geographical applications from northern Queensland to the Victorian border. As long as the temperature is above 20° C, we can grow from Griffith to the Burdekin, Townsville to Mt Isa.
“It takes many years to develop a variety to commercial viability, so the advancements this project has given is another step forward for mungbean production in Australia. We are looking forward to a successful season, using Australian-sourced, certified seed.”
The Australian Mungbean Association has produced sufficient certified seed of Brolga and Kookaburra to supply the 2025-26 season.
More information: Majella Bathurst, m.bathurst@censeofieldandlab.com
Paul McIntosh, paul@pulseaus.com
Resources:
Topics
Species
