Global Hunger and Food Security Research Strategy: Climate Resilience, Nutrition, and Policy – Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Climate Resilience in Beans

The project's primary goal was to develop and disseminate climate-resilient bean varieties that can thrive in challenging environments. The project's research strategy focused on three main areas: climate resilience, nutrition, and policy. The team conducted research in several countries, including Honduras, Colombia, and Puerto Rico, to identify and develop new bean varieties that can tolerate drought, heat, and other environmental stresses. One of the project's major accomplishments was the development and implementation of a ~200,000 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotype by sequencing tool, which exceeded the number of SNPs in the original proposal by ~8 times. This tool was used to identify and develop new bean varieties with improved climate resilience. The project also made significant progress in breeding and developing new bean varieties. For example, the team identified and released several new bean varieties, including USRM-20, a small red bean variety, and PT7-2, a pinto bean variety, which are being used as breeding lines for drought tolerance. Additionally, the team identified SEF 60, a triple cross between Phaseolus vulgaris, P. coccineus, and P. acutifolius (tepary), as a drought- and heat-tolerant variety. The project also conducted extensive testing of diversity panels in multiple conditions and under multiple types of stress, contributing to the selection of material with robust tolerance that is being used in the breeding pipeline. Furthermore, the team conducted training workshops for Mozambican technicians and Latin American technicians, and developed and tested material for promotional campaigns. In terms of long-term degree training, the project supported several students, including Chris Strock, Giovanni Lorenzo Vazquez, and Jim Burridge, who are pursuing PhD and MS degrees in plant science and breeding at Pennsylvania State University and the University of Puerto Rico. The project also made significant progress in using proximal sensing cart to acquire usable data on canopy temperature and full implementation of pollen shed protocol. Jesus Linares, a temporary employee on the CRIB project, designed and built a light-weight aluminum data collection cart, coupled with high-resolution RTK-GPS, which allowed for the collection of data that required far less post-processing in the small plots of the common bean experiments. Overall, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Climate Resilience in Beans made significant progress in developing and disseminating climate-resilient bean varieties, conducting research on climate resilience, nutrition, and policy, and providing training and capacity building for researchers and technicians in several countries.