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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Kimberly, Idaho » Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #197830
Title: SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS OF BREEDING DRY BEAN OF THE WESTERN USA

Author
item SINGH, SHREE - UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO
item TERAN, HENRY - UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO
item LEMA, MARGARITA - UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO
item WEBSTER, DAVID - SEMINIS VEGETABLE SEEDS
item Strausbaugh, Carl
item Miklas, Phillip - Phil
item SCHWARTZ, HOWARD - COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
item BRICK, MARK - COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/13/2006
Publication Date: 5/31/2007
Citation: Singh, S.P., Teran, H., Lema, M., Webster, D.M., Strausbaugh, C.A., Miklas, P.N., Schwartz, H.F., Brick, M.A. 2007. Seventy-five years of breeding dry bean of the Western USA. Crop Science. 47:981-989.

Interpretive Summary: Breeding and dry bean seed production in the Western U.S. began between 1910 and 1920. Seed production moving to the Western U.S. was partly driven by the dry production environment and the corresponding lack of plant pathogens such as anthracnose and bacterial blights. Initially breeders focused on improving the resistance of beans to bean common mosaic and curly top. Then additional traits such as resistance to root rots, bacterial blights, white mold and rust were hybridized into cultivars along with improvements in plant type, maturity, seed quality, and yield. In order to assess the progress, or the lack there of, achieved in improving traits of interest a comparison of cultivars produced from 1925 to 1998 was conducted. In the pinto market class a 35% gain in yield was achieved while in the red, great northern, and pink market classes yield increases were 18%, 17%, and 3%, respectively. Over the same time frame considerable improvements in resistance to various disease problems has also occurred. Since the release of Bill Z in 1987, medium-seeded cultivars have reached a yield plateau. Thus alternative strategies for breeding may need to be considered if significantly higher yields are to be achieved.

Technical Abstract: A periodic comparison of cultivars is essential to assess selection gains, determine deficiencies, define objectives, and set breeding priorities. Our objective was to compare dry bean cultivars released between 1932 and 1998. Twenty-five great northern, pink, pinto, and red cultivars were evaluated for seed yield at three locations in Idaho and for anthracnose, BCMV, BCMNV, common and halo bacterial blights, Fusarium and Rhizoctonia root rots, Fusarium wilt, and white mold in Colorado, Idaho, and Washington between 1999 and 2006. Yield ranged between 2,904 kg per ha for pinto ‘UI 111’ to 3,921 kg per ha for ‘Bill Z’, which represents a 35% gain in 54 years. Yield gain in great northern was 587 kg per ha, pink 136 kg per ha, and red 687 kg per ha. Stability indices ranged from 0.57 for ‘Kodiak’ to 1.86 for ‘UI 3’. Maturity ranged from 90 days for ‘UI 320’ to 97 days for ‘Frontier’. Seed weight ranged from 28 g for ‘Viva’ to 41 g for UI 320. Resistance to Rhizoctonia root rot was achieved in most cultivars. All cultivars were susceptible to anthracnose, common bacterial blight, and white mold, and all except ‘Chase’ for halo blight. For Fusarium root rot an intermediate reaction occurred. Only ‘Matterhorn’, ‘Weihing’, and Kodiak combined an upright Type II growth habit with resistance to BCMV and rust. An integrated breeding strategy should be explored for simultaneous improvement of multiple traits.