Breeding methods and history of bean cultivars released in CBAB - Crop Breeding and Applied Biotechnology

Sarah Ola Moreira,Messias Gonzaga Pereira,Marcelo G De Morais Silva,Alexandre Pio Viana,Rosana Rodrigues

doi:10.1590/s1984-70332010000400009

Abstract

Common bean is a staple food of great economic and social importance and breeding programs are being carried out in different institutions in Brazil and abroad. Aiming to determine how many new cultivars were presented in the journal CBAB - Crop Breeding and Applied Biotechnology and which breeding methods were used to develop the new genotypes, a historical survey of CBAB from 2001 to 2008 was carried out. During this period, 23 new common bean cultivars were described in CBAB, of which all but two that were bred at universities had been developed by public research institutes. The most commonly used breeding method was the pedigree, followed by bulk and the single pod descent (SPD) method. Since the preference of Brazilian consumers for carioca and black grain beans is noticeable, most bean breeders in the country have focused their research on these two bean types.

Highlights

Common beans are consumed in Brazil by all social classes
The purpose of this study was a diagnosis of the release and announcement of bean cultivars in the journal Crop Breeding Applied Biotechnology, the main scientific journal in the field of plant breeding in Brazil between 2001 and 2008, identifying the main improved characteristics and most commonly used breeding methods
All published volumes of the journal CBAB - Crop Breeding Applied Biotechnology from January 2001 to December 2008 were consulted for a literature review of the announcement of the release of new bean cultivars

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Common beans are consumed in Brazil by all social classes. for the portion of the lowincome population common bean is the main source of protein, minerals and vitamins (Carbonell et al 2008a). It is known that carioca grain is the most consumed in all the country, accounting for 79% of the total consumption, followed by black beans with 17%, and other types representing 4% of the national consumption (Faria et al 2008). For this reason more effort is spent on breeding programs to obtain cultivars with carioca grain. The improvement targets are more upright plants (with determinate or type I growth habit), of which cultivation is easier and crop losses and pathogen incidence are lower. The purpose of this study was a diagnosis of the release and announcement of bean cultivars in the journal Crop Breeding Applied Biotechnology, the main scientific journal in the field of plant breeding in Brazil between 2001 and 2008, identifying the main improved characteristics and most commonly used breeding methods

MATERIAL AND METHODS

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Introduction