The Legume Generation plan for boosting the breeding of phaseolus bean
The Bean Innovation Community (BIC) within Legume Generation will strengthen breeding of Phaseolus vulgaris (common bean) and Phaseolus coccineus (scarlet runner bean) by linking public research and private breeding across Europe. It covers snap and dry beans in bush and pole types, including in intercropping systems for forage. This report sets out the plan to boost the breeding of phaseolus beans.
The BIC integrates 11 breeding and 13 pre-breeding programmes and develops genetic resources, breeding tools and data systems. Activities include multi-location field trials, controlled environment tests for drought and heat tolerance, and development of molecular markers and an integrated database.
Key resources include interspecific crosses (P. vulgaris × P. coccineus), MAGIC populations, and gene pyramids for disease resistance. These will support discovery of traits for yield, resistance and climate adaptation.
Breeding targets vary by region and crop type. For snap beans, the focus is on pod quality, disease resistance and processing traits, while dry beans prioritise yield, protein content and adaptation. Work for northern Europe will target cold tolerance, disease resistance and stability under wet conditions. Work for southern Europe will focus on drought, heat stress and earliness.
The strategy combines use of existing diversity with creation of new variation through crossing. Genomic tools (WGS, GBS, GWAS, RNA-seq) are combined with phenotyping to identify markers and improve selection efficiency. A shared database will support all partners.
Outputs include well-characterised breeding sets (BBS), interspecific and MAGIC populations, molecular markers and elite lines. These are exchanged via SMTAs and used in breeding pipelines.
Legume Generation - Boosting innovation in breeding for the next generation of legume crops for Europe
Ongoing | 2023-2028
- Main funding source
- Horizon Europe (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
- Geographical location
- Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Czechia, Netherlands, France, United Kingdom, New Zealand