Phaseolus vulgaris L. (Common bean)

Crop Type: Garden Crop

Breeding system: Predominantly autogamous

The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an annual species, belonging to the Fabaceae family.

It is one of the most important grain legumes for direct human consumption worldwide. It is produced over an area of about 18 million hectares, mainly in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa with a total production of 12 million tons per year (Akibode and Maredia 2011; FAOSTAT 2019). In these regions, the common bean represents a major source of proteins and nutrients, such as Fe, Zn, thiamine and folic acid, for more than 300 million people (Petry et al. 2015). 

In general, common bean shows a great variability in terms of plant architecture, seed characteristics (size, shape and colour), relative duration of the reproductive cycle and many other qualitative and quantitative traits (Rodiño et al. 2003; Blair et al. 2009; Angioi et al. 2010; Raggi et al. 2013; Rana et al. 2015; Leitão et al. 2017). This diversity enabled its cultivation in a wide range of cropping systems and environments such as China, Eastern Africa, the Americas, the Middle-East and Europe (Blair et al. 2010). Even if its cultivation focuses predominantly on the production of dry grain, also the production and consumption of fresh grain (shell beans) and fresh pods (snap beans) is of major importance, the latter especially in Europe (EUROSTAT 2013). When compared to other legumes such as soybean and cowpea, common bean is generally considered weak in symbiotic nitrogen fixation ability (Bliss 1993). 

The common bean is a predominantly self-pollinating plant, with occasional occurrence of insect-mediated cross-pollination.

References
  • Akibode S, Maredia M (2011) Global and regional trends in production, trade and consumption of food legume crops. Dep Agric Food Resour Econ 87.
  • Angioi SA, Rau D, Attene G, et al (2010) Beans in Europe: Origin and structure of the European landraces of Phaseolus vulgaris L. Theor Appl Genet 121:829–843. doi: 10.1007/s00122-010-1353-2
  • Blair MW, Díaz LM, Buendía HF, Duque MC (2009) Genetic diversity, seed size associations and population structure of a core collection of common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Theor Appl Genet 119:955–972. doi: 10.1007/s00122-009-1064-8
  • Blair MW, González LF, Kimani PM, Butare L (2010) Genetic diversity, inter-gene pool introgression and nutritional quality of common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) from Central Africa. Theor Appl Genet 121:237–248. doi: 10.1007/s00122-010-1305-x
  • Bliss FA (1993) Breeding common bean for improved biological nitrogen fixation. Plant Soil 152:71–79.
  • EUROSTAT (2013) European Commission Statistics Database. 
  • FAOSTAT (2019) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAOSTAT database. 
  • Leitão ST, Dinis M, Veloso MM, et al (2017) Establishing the Bases for Introducing the Unexplored Portuguese Common Bean Germplasm into the Breeding World. Front Plant Sci 8:1–18. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2017.01296
  • Petry N, Boy E, Wirth JP, Hurrell RF (2015) Review: The potential of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) as a vehicle for iron biofortification. Nutrients 7:1144–1173. doi: 10.3390/nu7021144
  • Raggi L, Tiranti B, Negri V (2013) Italian common bean landraces: Diversity and population structure. Genet Resour Crop Evol 60:1515–1530. doi: 10.1007/s10722-012-9939-y
  • Rana JC, Sharma TR, Tyagi RK, et al (2015) Characterisation of 4274 accessions of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) germplasm conserved in the Indian gene bank for phenological, morphological and agricultural traits. Euphytica 205:441–457. doi: 10.1007/s10681-015-1406-3
  • Rodiño  a. P, Santalla M, De Ron  a. M, Singh SP (2003) A core collection of common bean from the Iberian peninsula. Euphytica 131:165–175. doi: 10.1023/A:102397330978