Protein crops provide valuable raw materials for the animal feed industry. Their potential to reduce cereal diseases in crop rotations and increase soil nitrogen content is long known. However, Norwegian production of protein crops is covering only 3% of the cereal cropping area, while foreign imports of high protein raw materials might introduce GMO-crops and Salmonella infected products. Crop choices on commercial fields depend on the economic benefit and stability of crop yield. Crop yields of protein crops in Norway are highly variable, discouraging farmers to invest in protein crops as cash crops or rotational crops. Yield instability is highly correlated with fungal disease pressure in oil seed crops and grain legumes. The main objective of this pro ject is to increase production, yield stability and nutritional value of protein crops by reducing disease pressure in the field. The major diseases of protein crops in Norway are Sclerotinia stem rot of oilseed crops, Ascochyta blight of field peas and C hocolate spot of faba beans. All diseases are seed borne, can survive on plant debris and spread by ascospores, but the significance of each inoculum source under Norwegian conditions is unknown. Effective chemical disease control is directly related to t iming, concentration and sufficient canopy penetration of appropriate fungicides. Disease forecasting models based on pathogen epidemiology and host development can closely align the timing of fungicide applications with the actual infection risk. Economi c benefits of protein crops depend on yield quality and nutritive value in addition to yield quantity. There are no studies available on the effect of protein crop diseases on the nutritive value of animal feed. Our project will address these knowledge ga ps on plant disease epidemiology and on effects of plant diseases on fodder quality, and increase yield stability by improving and implementing disease forecasting models and chemical disease management.