|
CIAT in the Media
New Bean Lines Pre-released in Kenya
 Five
new bean lines were recommended for pre-release by the bean
National Variety Release Technical Committee in a meeting
held at the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS)
headquarters in Nairobi on 26 March 2006. This was seven years
since the last release of improved bean varieties was done
in the country. The first trial had 16 bush bean entries and
three checks. Following the second trial that comprised five
climbing bean lines and two checks, three climbing bean lines
(MAC 13, MAC 34, and MAC 64) and two bush bean lines (AFR
708 and KK 8) were recommended for pre-release. The pre-released
varieties have 3:1 yield advantage over the bush bean varieties
and resistant to major biotic and abiotic stresses. This is
the first time climbing beans were formally pre-released in
Kenya.
Full story at http://www.africancrops.net/news/may06/bean-varieties.htm,
a Website on Improvement of African Crops and Seed Systems
Contact: Paul
Kimani
New Publications
Managing
the Whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum in String and
Field Beans
 The
biology and management of the whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum
in string and field beans: a technical manual is now available
for agronomists and technicians in Latin America. Likewise,
three primers on this worldwide, persistent pest, written
for farmers in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia, have also just
been published.
 The
publications are part of a strategy to disseminate research
results from the project on the Sustainable integrated management
of whiteflies as pests and vectors of plant viruses in the
tropics, financed by the British Department for International
Development (DFID).
Coordinated by CIAT, the project is executed by CIAT's Bean
Entomology (Colombia), the Corporación Grupo
Randi Randi (Ecuador), and the PROINPA
Foundation (Bolivia).
For queries on electronic copies
of the publications, contact Isaura Rodríguez at irodriguez@cgiar.org
On-line: Atlas of Common Bean Production
in Africa
 The
Atlas of Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Production
in Africa (published in 1998) is now on line. This atlas is
designed as a resource for researchers, extension workers,
policymakers, and donors concerned with increasing bean production
in eastern and southern Africa. It describes the distribution
of bean production and of bean seed types, classification
of environments in bean production areas, certain socioeconomic
aspects, cropping systems, diseases, insect pests, and abiotic
constraints. Data are compiled for 59 variables in 96 bean
production areas, themselves grouped into 14 environmental
categories. The data are presented in 48 maps and 9 large
"data tables" with accompanying text.
Download the
atlas.
For more information on our activities in Africa, visit our
Web site CIAT
in Africa
Course on Increased Productivity
of Common and String Beans in Colombia
 The International Center
for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) held a course on Research
and Technologies for Increased Productivity of Common and
String Beans in Colombia, at the Center's headquarters in
Palmira, Colombia, from 2 to 12 November 2004.
The course, funded by the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development (MADR,
its Spanish acronym), was directed toward Colombian professionals
actively working in the production of common and string beans
at institutions involved in research, promotion, teaching,
and technology transfer; farmer associations or cooperatives;
credit institutions; and nongovernmental organizations.
This course (in Spanish) was sponsored within the framework
of the Agreement on Technical and Scientific Cooperation subscribed
between CIAT and MADR.
 Download the
brochure (216 kb).
For more information on the CIAT-MADR training program, visit
the Training
and Conferences Web site.
Monthly Display in the CIAT Library
on "Integrated Pest and Diseases Management in
Beans"
 As
of May, CIAT's Library exhibited books and other
documents on "Integrated Pest and Diseases Management
in Beans". Topics covered included research results
related to practices and strategies to control pests and diseases
attacking common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), such us
biological, chemical, and cultural control, genetic breeding,
and others.
See
the complete list of the exhibition’s publications
(40 kb).
Visit the CIAT Library
HarvestPlus Bean Workshop
 After
HarvestPlus (formerly the Biofortification Challenge Program)
held its projectwide workshop at CIAT headquarters in June,
workshops were held for the six Phase-1 crops to develop work
plans for the next 2 years. The meeting for beans was held
in Naivasha, western Kenya, with the participation of 45 professionals
working in agriculture, health, nutrition, home economics,
seed production, end-user perspectives, and economics. Representatives
from D. R. Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda,
Brazil, and Honduras attended.
The breeding work plan focused on (1) the screening of local
germplasm in Africa as a continuation of present activities;
and, (2) the development of crosses between parents for high
mineral content with those for standard economic production
traits, especially disease resistance, earliness, and tolerance
of low soil fertility. Rather than becoming a special project
with a limited objective of increasing mineral concentration
per se, the strategy is to incorporate the trait for high
mineral content as soon as possible into mainstream breeding
programs, as another trait to be selected with the more conventional
traits.
Issues raised by nutritionists focused on the role of anti-nutrients
(phytates and polyphenolics) and the level of iron needed
to have a detectable impact on human health parameters. Beyond
simple breeding activities, the inclusion of nutritional goals
in a breeding program implies a gamut of opportunities and
challenges, and gives occasion to review our entire end-user
focus. We were called to work with new partners, such as those
organizing and orienting women's groups, and those involved
in home economics. As we build on the PABRA structure in Africa
to implement biofortification, in Latin America we will attempt
to revive regional collaboration around this theme.
Contact: Stephen
Beebe
Perspectives on Research Impact
Improved Bean Varieties Give Kenyan
Farmers more Food and Cash
 Farmers
in western Kenya have enthusiastically adopted several new
varieties of beans that resist root rots and whose yield is
more than double that of the commonly grown local varieties
susceptible to these diseases. A recent impact study shows
one of the new bush beans, called KK 15, was being grown by
80 percent of farmers surveyed in one district and by 42 percent
in another. Two other varieties had almost identical adoption
rates in both districts, roughly 35 percent and 70 percent.
The rate of adoption was highest in Vihiga District, which
is one of Africa’s most densely populated regions, with
850 persons per square kilometer.
See the complete
text in the latest issue of our corporate annual report,
CIAT in Perspective 2002-2003: Innovation Africa
Contact: Robin
Buruchara
New Comprehensive Monograph on Phaseolus Beans
 Taxonomy,
distribution, and ecology of the genus Phaseolus
(Leguminosae–Papilionoideae) in North America, Mexico
and Central America
George F. Freytag and Daniel G. Debouck
Sida, Botanical Miscellany
No. 23. ISSN 0833-147, ISBN 1-88878-11-1, xviii + 300 pp,
97 b/w figures and distribution maps, 5 color plates (60 figs.),
7" × 10". 31 Dec 2002. $40.00 + p&h ($4.00 Domestic;
$8.00 outside USA). Texas residents add $3.30 sales tax.
Phaseolus beans are a fascinating
group! So much variability exists that five distinct species
have been domesticated—a size, shape, color pattern and
flavor to satisfy most everyone, and nutritious, too! This
lavishly illustrated monograph is the most comprehensive botanical
treatment of beans to date. It starts with a brief history
about the former taxonomical treatments of the genus, and
goes on with the taxonomical criteria and a presentation about
discriminate characteristics. It presents a full description
of each section and species, its distribution and habitat,
relationships with other species, uses and potentially useful
traits, and historical notes. Color pictures, line drawings
and distribution maps lead easily to the right identification
of each species. The compilation of over 5,000 bean natural
populations through collections and herbarium specimens sets
the ground for present and future conservation efforts of
these unique plant and food resources.
This monograph will be most welcomed by
bean breeders, pathologists, botanists and legume taxonomists,
conservationists and natural history enthusiasts. It will
be the companion book for naturalists on their field trips
in the southern United States and most of Central America.
It will serve as a reference for several future works in documentation
of neotropical biodiversity.
To order a copy, see the Botanical
Research Institute Web site.
See also the bean
database on plant genetic resources.
Contact at CIAT: Daniel
Debouck
|
After
nearly a quarter century of research, CIAT scientists have
succeeded in breeding drought-tolerant beans that also incorporate
other traits important to farmers. The work is now in the
varietal development stage.
Download (in Spanish):
CIAT
has filed a formal request for reexamination of a US patent
on Mexico's yellow bean or "Enola bean." According
to Hope Shand of the Action Group on Erosion, Technology and
Concentration (until recently known as the Rural Advancement
Foundation International, or RAFI), this "action strikes
a blow against biopiracy and protects the integrity of designated
germplasm, which [CIAT] holds in-trust for the world's farming
community." (See RAFI 
