NDSU Releases Pinto Bean

FARGO - Oct 19/07 - SNS -- North Dakota State University (NDSU) Agricultural Experiment Station has Lariat, an upright pinto bean variety for use in the northern Great Plains.

According to Juan Osorno, the new dry edible bean breeder in the Department of Plant Sciences at NDSU, Lariat was developed under the supervision of Ken Grafton, the former NDSU dry bean breeder and now dean of the College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources and North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station director.

Starting in 1996, Lariat was derived from numerous crosses that included Maverick, a popular variety released by NDSU, Aztec and Winchester. The parentage in Lariat also includes several experimental lines from the NDSU and Michigan State University breeding programs. The final cross to develop Lariat was made during the 1998 greenhouse season.

Selections from the cross were made in New Zealand and Puerto Rico, where the bean breeding project has winter nurseries. Additional selections, evaluations and increases were made at numerous sites in east-central North Dakota (Forest River, Hatton, Johnstown and the NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center). Additional evaluations were made at other NDSU Research Extension Centers and the Midwest Regional Performance Nurseries in Michigan, Nebraska, Colorado and North Dakota.

Averaged across numerous locations, Lariat has out-yielded Buster and Maverick by almost 4 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively. Lariat has resistance to bean common mosaic virus and local races of leaf rust.

Lariat matures an average of five days later than Maverick and has excellent seed size, shape and appearance. The seed is very uniform in size, has a lighter background color and is slightly larger than Maverick.

Lariat has an upright, short vine with good lodging resistance. It exhibits very good uniform dry down of both pods and plants. The improved plant structure, combined with its uniform dry down, suggests that this line may be suitable for direct combining using the appropriate equipment and operator care.

The NDSU Research Foundation will apply for plant variety protection with Title V and collect research fees on this variety.