Weather Resistant Bean?

A breakthrough could be used to produce a new variety of beans that are temperature-resilient.

17:24 26 March 2015

Based on various studies, up to 50per cent of the world’s bean production will be lost by 2050 if farmers will not have access to a new variety of bean. That is why a breakthrough in the development of temperature-resilient beans offers a glimmer of hope for many farmers particularly in developing nations. 

 

The discovery was made by plant breeders at CGIAR, a global agricultural research group. Of the plant breeders, Steve Beebe said: "Typically, beans are not grown in environments where the night temperature is above 18C (64F) or 19C.”

 

"Night temperatures are especially critical because the bean flower pollinates itself during night hours and the pollination process is very sensitive to temperature.

"When we talk about heat tolerance, we are especially concerned about the night-time temperatures."

 

"We gathered up the lines that we had in our breeding programme - lines that had been selected for other traits such as drought tolerance, which has been a high priority as well.

 

"We also pulled some lines off the shelf that were the result of a crossing programme about 12-15 years ago between our common bean and a tepary bean."

 

He added: "We first started evaluating them for drought tolerance but when we decided to go into temperature evaluations, we selected these along with a much larger line of beans selected for drought or disease resistance," he recalled.

 

"We looked for varieties that were able to set pods and produce seeds in those conditions. We selected about 30 materials that were promising. That meant it was about 3% of our material that was of any interest at all.

 

"When we looked at what we had selected, the vast majority went back to the crosses that we had made 12-15 years ago."