Feeding the Future With
Pulse Crops
The
year 2016 has been dubbed the “International Year of Pulses” by the General
Assembly of the United Nations (UN). The goal of the initiative is to heighten
consumer awareness of the nutritional and other benefits of pulse crops as well
as to marshal the capabilities of agricultural research organizations worldwide
in developing new, improved varieties that will further global food security
and sustainable agriculture.
Pulses are the dry edible seeds of certain leguminous plants, including dry peas, lentils, chickpeas, mungbeans and dry beans (such as kidney and navy beans), but not fresh green beans, fresh peas, soybeans, or peanuts.
According
to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, “Pulses are a vital source of
plant-based proteins and amino acids for people around the globe and should be
eaten as part of a healthy diet to address obesity, as well as to prevent and
help manage chronic diseases such as diabetes, coronary conditions, and cancer;
they are also an important source of plant-based protein for animals.”
The
Agricultural
Research Service of the USDA has long been a proponent of pulse crops, with one
research program—the Dry Bean Project at Prosser, Washington—dating back to
1958 and currently serving growers and other industry members in more than 11
states across the country. Scientists with the agency are also making global
contributions, particularly through their participation in the Feed the Future
(FtF) Grain Legumes Project, a food security initiative of the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID).
“Pulses
are historically important food crops, and ARS is a leader in developing
high-yielding varieties with enhanced nutritional qualities,” says plant
geneticist George Vandemark, who leads the agency’s Grain Legume Genetics and Physiology Research Unit
in Pullman, Washington.
Vandemark’s
laboratory is one of several ARS locations across the country whose pulse crop
research programs produce improved germplasm and commercial varieties offering
better resistance to pests and diseases, greater tolerance to environmental
extremes like drought, improved nutritional quality, and other traits
benefiting growers, processors, and consumers.
Over the past 5
years, in partnership with USAID and through their participation in the FtF
Grain Legumes Project, ARS scientists at five locations have brought their
considerable expertise to bear in addressing some of the agricultural
challenges faced by rural and small-holdings farmers in developing regions of
the world where pulses, particularly dry beans, are staple food crops.
•
The Andean Diversity Panel (ADP), a collection of nearly 500 accessions of
large-seeded dry beans of Andean descent obtained from more than a dozen
countries in South America, Africa, the Caribbean, and parts of North America.
ADP database information includes analyses from genomic mapping and genotyping,
physical and biochemical descriptions of the accessions, and DNA markers
associated with genes for important traits like higher mineral content,
adaptability to nutrient-poor soils, and resistance to diseases like rust and
angular leaf spot that can decimate susceptible bean crops.
•
Demonstration that certain genomic regions are responsible for “fast cooking,”
a valuable trait that can reduce the cooking time of beans—thus reducing the
amount of fuel needed to prepare meals in resource-poor households. FtF team
members are also investigating the role of other contributing factors, namely,
seed mineral concentrations (before and after cooking) to assess their
correlations with cooking time.
•
Use of a plant breeding technique called “pyramid stacking” to develop red,
pinto, great northern, and navy beans with adaptability to a broad range of
conditions, including extreme heat, productivity in nutrient-poor soils, and
limited irrigation. Together with University of Puerto Rico colleagues, FtF
team members have provided breeding and pathology training to East African,
Haitian, and Central American scientists, particularly in developing locally
adapted varieties that can withstand common bacterial blight, angular leaf
spot, and other bean diseases.
•
Identification of broad-spectrum resistance to the bean rust fungus in
large-seeded cultivars from Tanzania and Ecuadorian germplasm lines. Crosses
are under way to transfer the rust resistance into dry bean market classes
(yellow, red-mottled, white, and tan) for small-holdings farmers in Sub-Saharan
Africa, where fungicide use to prevent outbreaks can be too costly.
•
Evaluations of the agronomic performance of common and tepary (southwestern)
beans inoculated with strains of Bradyrhizobium bacteria, which convert
atmospheric nitrogen into a form the plants can use for their growth—reducing
the need to apply fertilizers for subsequent crops.—By Jan
Suszkiw, Agricultural Research Service Information Staff.
“Feeding the Future
With Pulse Crops” was published in the February
2016 issue of AgResearch Magazine.
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