Presented by Paul Kimani, R.D. Narla, A. Warsame, B. Buxton, P.K. Waidhima, M. Njiru and J.W. Mwangi at the First Bio-Innovate Regional Scientific Conference, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 25-27 February 2013

1. Advances in Breeding bean for Drought
tolerance and Canning quality in Kenya
Paul Kimani1, R.D. Narla1, A. Warsame1, B. Buxton1, P. K.
Waidhima2, M. Njiru2 and J.W. Mwangi1
1Department of Plant Science and Crop Protection,
College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, University of Nairobi
2 Trufoods Ltd
Nairobi, Kenya
First Bio-Innovate Regional Scientific Conference
United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC-ECA)
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 25-27 February 2013

2. Contents
• Drought tolerance
• Mesoamerican
• Andean
• Mechanisms of drought tolerance
• Shoot traits
• Root traits
• Participatory selection for drought tolerance
• Canning Quality
• Partnership for Seed production and Dissemination
• Conclusions and future directions
• Acknowledgements

3. Rationale for Breeding Canning Beans Adapted to Biotic and Abiotic stresses
Process
 Current variety (Mex 142) more than 50 years
old, susceptible to biotic and abiotic stresses 445 lines
 Many farmers stopped growing the variety Agronomic
• Processing industry not able to meet demand potential- yield,
e.g. 300 t /year for Trufoods diseases, vigour
• Erratic supply and poor quality raw materials growth habit
• Industry demanded better varieties
• Demand for fast cooking or pre-cooked
products –high energy costs 150 lines
• Changing eating habits -wider range of Drought
preferences with urbanization tolerance &
farmer
• Focus on 7 market classes for canning industry preferences
• Fast cooking- for direct consumption
Canning
• Pre-cooked products and
• Canned products 20-25 lines
Nutritional
quality
3

4. Gene pools and Market Classes
Andean Mesoamerican
Red Small
Navy
mottled Red
Pinto Carioca
Red
kidney
Tan
Yellow
Speckled sugar Green yellow
BEIGE
4

5. Structure of Breeding Program
Three parallel Breeding Streams:
Stream 1: Advanced lines of a genetically diverse lines
 Objective: drought tolerance, yield potential and
canning quality
 447 Mesoamerican and Andean lines
Stream 2: Biofortified varieties combining high iron(>90 ppm)
and zinc (>35 ppm) multiple stress to biotic and biotic stresses
 Based on 47 new populations segregating for multiple traits
Stream 3: Marker assisted gamete selection for simultaneous
selection for resistance to biotic and abiotic stress factors,
marketable grain types
 Focus markers and diseases: anthracnose, angular leaf spot,
root rots, common bacterial blight, bean common mosaic
virus
5

6. New drought tolerant Mesoamerican lines
2000
DMC11-10
Mean=903.9 DNB11-07
1800 LSD=148.3 •New Drought
Grain yield in kg ha-1 under no stress
DNB11-06 tolerant Navy,
1600 DNB11-15
DMC11-01
DSR11-24 Small Red and
DMC11-24
1400 DSR11-13 Mixed colour
MEX142
DSR11-20 lines are better
1200
GLPX92 DSR11-19 yielding than
1000 DSR11-05
TIO CANELA
local and
international
800 DMC11-15 GLP585
checks in
DMC11-08
600
KATB1 drought
Mean=753.2
400
LDS=148.3 stressed and
400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 non-stressed
Grain yield in kg ha-1 under drought stress conditions

7. New drought tolerant Andean lines
900 •New Drought
tolerant
800 DSS 11-04 DRM 11-03 •Red mottled,
• Red kidneys
DSS 11-17
•Speckled sugar
Drought stress yield (kg ha-1)
700 DRK 11-05
DRK 11-22 DRM 11-17
lines are better
600 GLP 1004 11-01
DPC DRK 11-19
KAT 56
DRK 11-15
DSS 11-16 11-10
DRK
DRK 11-18
yielding than
DPC 11-03 Kabete Super 11-16
DRK
500 DSS 11-01 11-21
DRK local checks in
DRK 11-23
Super Rosococo
DRM 11-15
KSB
DRM 11-18
DRM 11-13
drought stressed
400 GLP 24
GLP 92
KRK
KAT 69
and non-stressed
Miezi Mbili
conditions at
300
GLP 2
Kabete and
Kenya Umoja
Kenya Wonder
New Rosococo Mwea
200
Kenya Early
100
400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200
Reduced stress yield (kg ha-1)
RS vs DS
RS vs DS
DRM 11-03 vs DS: 859.45
RS

8. Mechanisms of Drought tolerance- Shoot traits
Plant traits Irrigated Rainfed (Stress)
Canopy biomass (kg/ha) 0.64*** 0.25**
Pod harvest index (%) 0.62*** 0.40***
Grain harvest index (%) 0.50*** 0.39***
Pod partitioning index (%) 0.57*** 0.89***
Pod wall biomass proportion (%) 0.26** 0.19*
Stem biomass reduction (%) -0.18* 0.32**
Total chlorophyll content (SPAD) 0.24** 0.18**
*, **, *** Significant at p<0.05, p<0.01 and p<0.001
probability levels respectively.

9. Mechanisms of Drought tolerance- Root traits
Framework for root studies at Kabete Field Station, No Stress treatment Drought stressed plants
January 2013
Tagging a young spread leaf for measurements A tagged young spread leaf for measurements Measuring chlorophyll content on leaf using SPAD

10. Stressed PVS Irrigated PVS
Participatory selection
plots, Mwea plots, Mwea for drought tolerance
•Mwea and Kabete for two
seasons
• Gender disaggregated
•Selection under stress and no
stress plots
•Ribbon method for preferred
and non-preferred line
Key traits for farmers:
• Yield
•Drought tolerance
•Earliness
•Marketability
•Fast cooking
•Taste
•Plant type
•Non shattering
•Foliage

11. PVS for drought tolerant lines conducted at Kabete in 2012
Bean program staff explains objective and technique of selection
Refreshments
Preferred line Rejected line
Farmers select at Kabete Field Station, March 2012
11

12. Selection for Multiple Disease Resistance
BCB11-34 is a small BCB 11-196, a small red
white (navy canning showed high degree of
bean ) which showed resistance to anth, angular
high degree of leafspot, BCMV and CBB at
resistance to ALS, Kabete during the LR 2012-12-
anth, BCMV and CBB 15(picture taken 10 July 2012).
at Kabete during the Note adjacent lines were
LR 2012. Note that devastated by the disease.
neighbouring lines
were destroyed by
the disease.
BCB 11-162 is highly BCB 11-400 is disease
disease resistant red resistant red mottled line .
kidney line with good Note adjacent lines were
vigour at Kabete, LR severely damaged by
2012 diseases at Kabet LR 2012
Photo: 10 July 2012 at Photo : 10 July 2012 at 4.23
7.26 PM PM
12

13. Summary of Advanced lines with Multiple Disease resistance
and high yield potential
Market Class Lines select for MDR Resistances
Red mottled 21 ALS, root rots, BCMV,
anthracnose, CBB
Red kidney 23
Speckled sugar 17
Navy 24
Small Red 22
Pinto/carioca 19
Mixed colours 24
• Lines currently in AYT at Kabete, Thika, Meru, Nakuru and Tigoni
13

14. Fig 1. Water absorption by advanced navy bean canning bean lines over a 16
hour period.
140.0
BCB11-10
BCB11-35
BCB11-108
120.0
BCB11-14
BCB11-30
BCB11-33
100.0 94.9
BCB11-34
89.9
87.5 BCB11-35
BCB11-355
Percent water uptake
79.0
80.0
BCB11-40
BCB11-47
BCB11- BCB11-476
60.0 48 BCB11-48
Mexican 142 BCB11-49
44.1
BCB11-52
40.0 BCB11-55
BCB11-58
BCB11-62
20.0 BCB11-69
BCB11-75
0.0 BCB11-80
0.0 BCB11-87
0H 3H 6H 9H 12H 16H BCB11-9
Hours of soaking

15. Fig 5. Water absorption of advanced small red lines after soaking for 16 hours.
120.0
111.8
108.1 107.5
110.0 105.2 104.7 105.2 105.5 106.6
101.3 102.2
99.7
100.0
92.8 93.9
91.8 91.6
90.0 86.1
Percent water absorption
80.7
80.0 75.0
70.0 65.0
60.0 56.6
50.0
50.0 46.0
40.0
30.0 25.5
20.0
10.0
0.0
Genotype

16. Fig 10. Water absorption trends of advanced red kidney bean lines soaked over 16 hours
140
BCB11-158
BCB11-159
120 BCB11-162
BCB11-163
BCB11-166
BCB11-168
100
BCB11-171
BCB11-173
BCB11-174
80 BCB11-175
BCB11-176
BCB11-285
60 BCB11-325
BCB11-327
BCB11-337
BCB11-342
40
BCB11-468
Mexi 142 BCB11-492
BCB11-500
20
BCB11-503
BCB11-509
BCB11-522
0 Mex142
0H 3H 6H 9H 12 H 16H

17. Fig 12. Water uptake patterns of advanced red mottled lines over 16 hours
130
BCB11-130
120
BCB11-132
110 BCB11-133
BCB 11-132 BCB11-135
100
BCB11-142
89.7
90 86.1 BCB11-143
82.7
BCB11-144
80
Percent water uptake
72.7 BCB11-145
BCB11-290
70
BCB11-314
60 BCB11-324
BCB11-334
50
BCB11-345
39.7
40 BCB11-347
BCB11-400
30 BCB11-413
Mex 142
BCB11-433
20
BCB11-445
10 BCB11-464
0 BCB11-470
0
BCB11-523
0H 3H 6H 9H 12 H 16H
Mex142
Genotype

18. Fig 14. Water absorption patterns of advanced speckled
sugar lines soaked for 16 hours.
120
BCB 11-
217 BCB11-204
BCB11-209
100 BCB11-217
91.9
90.0
87.5 BCB11-269
82.7
Percent water absorption
BCB11-282
80 BCB11-303
BCB11-336
BCB11-377
60
BCB11-380
46.6 BCB11-386
BCB11-390
40
Mex 142 BCB11-393
BCB11-414
BCB11-495
20
BCB11-498
BCB11-501
0
BCB11-507
0
0H 3H 6H 9H 12 H 16H BCB11-530
Mex142
Genotype

19. Certified Seed Production: Technology licensing with Simlaw Seed Ltd
concluded
Season Category of Seed Quantity (kg) Remarks
LR 2011 Nucleus 350 Stage I, II
Breeder 4,129 Isiolo, Naivasha, Kabete
Basic 4,562
Total 9,041
SR 2011 Nucleus 800 Stage I, II and III
Breeder 8,000 Used by Simlaw Ltd as pre-basic and
planting certified seed
Basic 12,667
Total 21,467
LR 2012 Nucleus 1.2 ha Kabete (stages I,II andIII)
Breeder 7 ha Kabete (SEMI)
Basic 73 ha Diverse areas (see semi-annul report)
Certified 100 Simlaw Production Dept
19

20. Capacity Building
• Training seed producers
• Scientists and technologists on assessment of
canning quality
• Seed entrepreneurs and managers
• Graduate students- breeding & Biotech, FST, Agron,
Pathology
• Infrastructure- repair of canning plant, irrigation
facilites
• Marker assisted selection- real time PCR
20

21. 8 May 2012
Pilot food processing Plant-CAVS Blanching Seaming
Retort Cooling system
Recorder
Steam generation and regulation

22. Future Directions
• Complete lab canning testing
• Industrial canning- grain production
• NPT
• Fe-Zn analysis
• Root studies
• Graduate students- complete work
• Bio-innovate conference
• Publications
22

23. Conclusions
New dry bean varieties meant for canning should possess good canning qualities while ensuring uniform and complete water uptake in order to
prevent
• New dry bean varieties meant for canning should possess good canning
qualities while ensuring uniform and complete water uptake in order to
prevent further expansion of beans in the can (2,3).
• The new advanced drought tolerant dry bean varieties posses the physical
suitability for the canning process.
• Water uptake, percent volume increase and cookability after soaking are
critical characteristics of dry beans destined for the canning industry.
• All genotypes took up at least 90% water and qualify for canning purposes,
with line in six market classes picking up water and cooking faster than the
control.
• The varieties compared well, some even better, with the control navy bean
variety, the Mexican 142 which is imported and is popular for its taste and
short cooking time.
• These new varieties can be grown locally thus have a potential in promoting
local farmers economically.
• wit Conclusions
• New dry bean varieties meant for canning should possess good canning qualities while ensuring uniform and complete water uptake in order to prevent further
expansion of beans in the can (2,3). The eight new advanced drought tolerant dry bean varieties posses the physical suitability for the canning process. Water uptake,
percent volume increase and cookability after soaking are critical characteristics of dry beans destined for the canning industry. All genotypes took up at least
90% water and qualify for canning purposes, with six of them picking up water and cooking faster than the control.
• The varieties compared well, some even better, with the control navy bean variety, the Mexican 142 which is imported and is popular for its taste and short cooking
time. These new varieties can be grown locally thus have a potential in promoting local farmers economically.
• h six of them picking up water and cooking faster than the control. 23
• The varieties compared well, some even better, with the control navy bean variety, the Mexican 142 which is imported and is popular for its

24. Acknowledgements
• Government of Kenya
• UON
• BioInnovate/SIDA
• Bean Program Technical staff
• TRUFOODS LTD
• Ministry of Agriculture
• Farmer Groups
• Graduate students PVS for drought tolerant canning beans in Mwea

25. THANK YOU