Australia
November 20, 2025
Key points
- Two new mungbean varieties – Brolga and Kookaburra – have been released.
- They were developed to increase yields and grain quality and improve disease resistance.
- They will be commercially available for the 2025-26 northern summer growing season.
Improved yields, improved disease resistance, larger grain size and reduced lodging are among the traits of 2 newly released mungbean varieties.
Two new mungbean varieties – Brolga and Kookaburra – are ready for growers to purchase and plant this summer season.
Bred to offer improved grain quality and disease resistance, they were developed under the $8.3 million National Mungbean Improvement Program.
This is a joint initiative of GRDC and Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI) and has been running since 2022. It is now in its fifth iteration.
Holy Grail
For QDPI Principal Plant Breeder Dr Merrill Ryan, the varieties represent 2 lines out of 23,000 annual trial plots. “It’s a lot of hard work, but I have a very hardworking multidisciplinary team behind me.”
She says the overall breeding program, a co-investment with GRDC and QDPI, is now more than 20 years old.
“In breeding, it’s a long-term game. But we’ve reached the Holy Grail, we have been trying for 20 years to get a large, green-seeded mungbean with halo blight resistance.
“Up to now, all our resistant germplasm was a small to medium seed type. That’s why I am so excited.”
As one of the highest-value grain crops per tonne for Australian growers, mungbeans play a dual role for northern growers – as a legume rotation crop and as a short season, high-profit summer crop.
Two new varieties side by side at the Hermitage Research Facility. Left: On the left is Brolga, on the right is Kookaburra. Right: Brolga is a more erect variety. Photos: Merrill Ryan
Brolga stands tall
Brolga is a versatile variety and well suited to a wide range of growing conditions.
Yield performance in trials have shown that Brolga will outperform the variety Jade-AU for northern growing regions, with a seed size 8% larger.
Across trials between 2020 and 2024, yield gains were as much as 11% higher for central NSW, while in Queensland it out-yielded Jade-AU by 28%.
With a tall, erect plant structure, it is also resistant to halo blight and shows improved resistance to tan spot.
Kookaburra better for wet
Better suited to NSW and southern Queensland, Kookaburra is a leafy, erect plant type of medium height. The thicker, lower, multi-branching architecture makes plants less likely to lodge.
It has out-yielded the Opal-AU variety in central NSW by 12 to 18% and has proved a good option for wetter conditions, with improved resistance to halo blight and powdery mildew.
The Australian Mungbean Association has produced sufficient certified seed of Brolga and Kookaburra to supply the 2025-26 season.
More information: Dr Merrill Ryan, merrill.ryan@dpi.qld.gov.au
Topics
Species
