Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) provides critical nutrition and a livelihood for millions of smallholder farmers worldwide. Beans engage in symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) with Rhizobia. Honduran hillside farmers farm marginal land and utilize few production inputs; therefore, bean varieties with high SNF capacity and environmental resiliency would be of benefit to them. We explored the diversity for SNF, agronomic traits, and water use efficiency (WUE) among 70 Honduran landrace, participatory bred (PPB), and conventionally bred bean varieties (HON panel) and 6 North American check varieties in 3 low-N field trials in Ontario, Canada and Honduras. Genetic diversity was measured with a 6K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array, and phenotyping for agronomic, SNF, and WUE traits was carried out. STRUCTURE analysis revealed two subpopulations with admixture between the subpopulations. Nucleotide diversity was greater in the landraces than the PPB varieties across the genome, and multiple genomic regions were identified where population genetic differentiation between the landraces and PPB varieties was evident. Significant differences were found between varieties and breeding categories for agronomic traits, SNF, and WUE. Landraces had above average SNF capacity, conventional varieties showed higher yields, and PPB varieties performed well for WUE. Varieties with the best SNF capacity could be used in further participatory breeding efforts.

Trabajo conducido como parte de las actividades de los proyectos de investigación auspiciados por el Programa Dry grain Pulses crsP (donación UsaiD no. eDH-a-00-07-00005-00).

El maíz (Zea mays) es el grano básico más importante en Mesoamérica, siendo desde tiempos precolombinos la base de la alimentación de los pobladores de esta región geográfica. Su evolución como cultivo se llevó a cabo por los agricultores, quienes seleccionaron y generaron innumerables variedades

El frijol común (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) forma parte de la dieta básica de la población cubana y constituye la fuente de la quinta parte de las proteínas totales consumidas en Cuba. Se estima que en este país se produjeron 119.800 toneladas de frijol en el año 2002, lo que constituyó más de la mitad de la demanda nacional. Durante la última década, la producción de frijol en Cuba, estuvo a cargo del sector agrícola no estatal,

Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum lindemuthianum is one of the most economically important diseases of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cultivation in Ecuador. The best control alternative is the use of resistant varieties. C. lindemuthianum presents great pathogenic variability, which hinders the development of varieties with a lasting resistance, therefore, the knowledge of the presence and distribution of the physiological races of the pathogen and the identification of resistance genes are key to developing varieties with broad and lasting resistance. The objective of this research was to determine the pathogenic variability of C. lindemuthianum and to evaluate the resistance of Ecuadorian bean germplasm. The research was carried out between 2013 and 2014. Seventeen isolates of C. lindemuthianum from northern central Ecuador were characterized by the inoculation of a group of twelve standard differential bean varieties. Among the analyzed samples, thirteen races were identified; five of those races had not been previously reported in the country. The differential G2333 (Co-42, Co-52 and Co-7) presented resistance to every characterized races in Ecuador. In addition, twenty - one improved varieties and elite bean lines were evaluated with sixteen of the seventeen isolates, three genotypes were identified (TB2, TB3 and INIAP 485 Urcuquí) with resistance to the mentioned isolates, which can be used as sources of resistance to Anthracnose. The identified sources of resistance in this study will allow to plan the development of bean varieties with broad and durable resistance to C. lindemuthianum.