Release of tepary bean TARS‐Tep 23 germplasm with broad abiotic stress tolerance and rust and common bacterial blight resistance

Abstract

Tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray) is a drought and high ambient temperature tolerant crop native to the Sonoran Desert, the hottest and driest region in the United States and Mexico. Although tepary bean is an orphan crop with little current commercial production, there was a brief period of larger scale production in the early 1900s in California. Tepary bean has great potential as a novel crop in a warmer world climate and can be introduced as an alternative pulse crop in hot and/or dry regions worldwide. TARS-Tep 23 (Reg. no. GP-309, PI 698457) is an improved tepary bean germplasm with wide-ranging adaptation to tropical and temperate regions experiencing high temperature and drought stress conditions, with broad resistance to bean rust and with resistance to common bacterial blight.It has a flat, mottled black seed type with good seed size, a Type III plant habit, and a short crop cycle of 55-61 d in the environments tested. This germplasm was developed cooperatively by the USDA-ARS, Zamorano University, the University of California-Davis, and the University of Nebraska. The use of this improved germplasm by farmers in production zones affected by abiotic and biotic stresses, or by breeding programs, can potentially increase seed yields of this climate-resilient crop.Abbreviations: BGYMV, Bean golden yellow mosaic virus.

Genetic variation in a tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray) diversity panel reveals loci associated with biotic stress resistance

“…The accessions had an overwhelmingly similar reaction to both strains, with a Spearman correlation of 89.1%. Of the cultivated accessions, 20 were highly resistant to both CBB strains (ratings of 1), including the released germplasm TARS‐Tep 23 (TDP‐312) (Porch et al., 2022).…”

“…Wild, weedy, and cultivated accessions were collected near the primary region of domestication and diversity in northwestern Mexico, the Desert Southwest of the United States, and several countries in Central America and Africa. Breeding lines were developed primarily at the USDA Tropical Agriculture Research Station (TARS) (Porch, Beaver, Brick et al., 2013, Porch et al., 2022). A single plant of each accession was grown, and progeny were evaluated for uniformity of morphological characteristics prior to bulk harvest and designation of a TDP identifier (e.g., TDP‐001).…”

“…To date, tepary bean has been primarily used as a donor of a limited number of genes of interest to common bean breeders. In addition, efforts to breed and improve tepary itself have been made in recent years that capitalize on its inherent drought and heat tolerance which are key components of addressing future climate challenges in the production of plant‐based protein (Porch, Beaver, Brick et al., 2013; Porch et al., 2022). Access to multiple soybean (Schmutz et al., 2010) and common bean (Schmutz et al., 2014; Vlasova et al., 2016) genomic resources including diversity panels (Cichy et al., 2015; Moghaddam et al., 2016) have facilitated breeding and research discoveries including quantitative trait mapping, genome architecture, genome‐wide association (Bassett et al., 2021; Fang et al., 2017; Kamfwa et al., 2015; Katuuramu et al., 2018; Moghaddam et al., 2016; Soltani et al., 2018; Zuiderveen et al., 2016), pan‐genome analyses (Liu et al., 2020), and studies on the evolution and domestication of legume species (Dong et al., 2021; Rendón‐Anaya et al., 2017; Sedivy et al., 2017).…”

Dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) as a vital component of sustainable agriculture and food security—A review

“…The improved understanding of the physiology and genetics of the response to heat will facilitate the application of high throughput methods (Parker et al, 2020; White & Conley, 2013) and accelerate improvement efforts and the integration of molecular marker approaches. Improvement of and introgression from common bean sister species, such as tepary bean ( P. acutifolius ), hold promise for production in areas marginalized by climate change (e.g., Porch et al, 2022; Souter et al, 2017).…”

Large genomic introgression blocks of Phaseolus parvifolius Freytag bean into the common bean enhance the crossability between tepary and common beans

“…It is a desert‐adapted species, which is related to the common bean, and has a unique array of abiotic tolerance traits (Pratt & Nabhan, 1988 ). These traits include heat tolerance (Porch et al, 2021 ; Traub et al, 2018 ) and water use efficiency (Markhart, 1985 ; Polania et al, 2020 ). However, crossing common bean with tepary bean is challenging due to reproductive isolation barriers between the two species (Gaur et al, 2009 ; Waines et al, 1988 ).…”