By developing new dry bean cultivars with higher protein, dietary fibre and resistant starch, this scientist has set the stage for a new generation of superior varieties.

Alberta’s dry bean growers, like those who grow other pulse crops, have a product that’s attractive to consumers and food companies. Among other nutritional values, dry beans are a potent source of protein, dietary fibre and resistant starch.

How can we increase the economic value of Alberta-grown dry beans? One way is to increase the amount of these nutrients in commercially grown dry bean varieties.

John Lu, Lethbridge-based Research Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, has been working on this effort for years. Most recently, with funding from Growing Forward 2, he’s spent the past five years screening hundreds of dry bean lines in 10 different market classes of dry beans.

“My work is to improve nutrient value and food quality of dry beans,” Lu said. “We are trying to develop novel dry bean lines with high protein, resistant starch and dietary fibre to improve dry bean commercial values and production in Canada.”

Four years of field trials

Dry beans – whether navy, pinto, Great Northern, black, red or other market classes – stand out for their strong nutritional profile as a health food with a low glycemic index. Information on beans’ key nutrients, such as protein, dietary fibre and resistant starch, is still limited. Overall, in Lu’s view, dry bean production in Canada is greatly underutilized and undervalued.

In this project, Lu and his collaborators conducted field trials from 2014 to 2017 to identify dry bean lines with higher levels of these nutrient values. In all, he screened 350 diverse collections, obtained from dry bean breeding programs in Canada, the U.S. and worldwide. These dry bean samples included germplasm, cultivars and advanced breeding lines.

This process found significant variation in protein, dietary fibre and resistant starch among different dry beans. Based on overall analytical results and evaluation, Lu has come up with five dry bean lines, which have been selected as cross-parents to further develop the most promising lines.

Lu emphasizes that plant breeding is a long-term effort. He and his collaborators made 16 cross-combinations in 2016. The F2, F3 and F4 generations are scheduled to be advanced in 2017 and the F5 populations of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) will be obtained by the end of the project term. From there, it’ll be at least a few more years before Lu’s work is reflected in commercially available varieties.

While higher yield isn’t the aim of his study, Lu notes that the improvement of dry bean nutrients and grain quality can greatly strengthen Canada’s competitive position in the world dry bean market.

“We have crossed good, high-yielding cultivars with new germplasm and that gets us new cultivars,” said Lu. “But, if you just improve the quality of the grain, yield could decline. We need to make sure we keep yield close to the traditional level but increase the quality. We can keep all the good things and add some new ones too.”

Project at a glance

Project title:                Improve nutritional values of dry bean to promote its utilization in health foods

Project lead:                John Lu, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Total value of project: $247,950

Start date:                   April 1, 2013

Completion date:        March 31, 2018