On-Farm Versus Agricultural Experiment Station Evaluation and Improvement of Intrinsic Characteristics of Landrace Common Bean Cultivars for Sustainable Farming Systems in the Twenty-First Century

View the project final report

• 2003 annual report
• 2004 annual report

Commodities

• Agronomic: general grain crops
• Vegetables: beans

Practices

• Crop Production: continuous cropping, organic fertilizers, application rate management, strip tillage, tissue analysis
• Education and Training: demonstration, extension, farmer to farmer, on-farm/ranch research, participatory research
• Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity
• Pest Management: competition, genetic resistance
• Production Systems: general crop production
• Soil Management: soil analysis

Common Red Mexican, Matterhorn, Mesa, and Othello were drought resistant and competed well with weeds. Common Red Mexican’s resistance was lowest within cultivars. Yield and plant and seed uptake and concentration of nutrients were low in stressful environments. Forty-four F5:7 breeding lines selected from each of two populations in each of four production systems were evaluated in their respective system. Seed of 262 F5:7 breeding lines from UI 320 x Common Red Mexican was produced. Two meetings were held and five field-tours conducted to promote adoption. Six presentations were made and two articles prepared. C. Muñoz earned a Ph.D. degree.

This project focuses on identification, genetic improvement, and adoption of the most promising dry bean landraces and cultivars and management practices for low-input sustainable organic and conventional production systems for Idaho in particular and the Western U.S. at large for the 21st century. The specific objectives in 2005 were to (1) complete agronomic characterization and data analyses for three dry bean landraces and 13 cultivars evaluated in seven production systems in 2003 and 2004, (2) identify the most promising landraces and cultivars within and across production systems for their subsequent on-farm adoption through field tours and other means, (3) evaluate 44 high-yielding F5-derived F7 (F5:7) breeding lines and five parents from each of two populations selected independently in each of four production systems, (4) multiply seed of 262 F5:7 breeding lines from a cross of drought-susceptible pinto cultivar UI 320 x highly drought-resistant Common Red Mexican landrace for subsequent identification and mapping of favorable alleles and quantitative trait loci (QTL) imparting drought resistance to facilitate their transfer from landrace into new cultivars, and (5) train students and young researchers in breeding and management practices for sustainable dry bean production systems.