Heat-tolerant wild beans tapped to breed commercial beans for hotter climates

For beans to continue playing a major role in human diets, new varieties must adapt and thrive. Scientists believe crop wild relatives (CWR) are essential to meet this goal. Wild relatives have valuable genetic diversity that can be used to develop high-yielding crops that tolerate high temperatures, increased soil salinity, and harsher and more frequent pest and disease outbreaks. The challenge of a growing food demand in a changing climate has long driven the development of hardier bean varieties at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) based in Colombia. As part of a partnership with the Crop Trust-led CWR Project, CIAT scientists are using conventional crop breeding techniques to transfer heat-tolerance traits from two wild types (accessions or samples) of tepary beans to commercial bean varieties.