Dry Bean Breeding

The U of I dry bean breeding program is one of ten public breeding programs in the U.S. and has been developing bean varieties for Idaho's dry bean industry since 1925. Other public dry bean breeding programs include Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and New York.

Recent research activities include assessment of new market classes of dry beans, characterization of past cultivars, search for and use of favorable alleles in exotic germplasm, studying cultivar response pattern and inheritance of soil zinc deficiency resistance, introgression of white mold resistance from the secondary gene pool, breeding for great northern and pinto beans, and improvement of common bean landraces of the western U.S. for sustainable farming system. This program includes one faculty member, two support staff, and graduate students.

Principal Investigator:  Shree Singh, Ph.D., Professor, Plant Breeding and Genetics - Department of Plant, Soil & Entomological Sciences.

Support Staff:  Henry Teran, Research Support Scientist