Southern Brazil institute launches resistant kidney bean cultivar

The Agronomic Institute of the State of Paraná (Iapar) has launched this week a kidney bean cultivar, IPR Celeiro, which can withstand the Bean Golden Mosaic Virus transmitted by the whitefly (Bemisia tabaci). After over 40 years of research, the seed promises to sidestep one of the major diseases for kidney beans, which has made production unfeasible across more than 1.5 million hectares of farmland in Brazil.

The cultivar resistance of IPR Celeiro to the Golden Mosaic is of the horizontal, or partial, type, which means the plant can be infected by the virus but will present weak symptoms, resulting in less damage. Developed via traditional methods of genetic improvement (without the use of transgenics), its launch promises to give the national soybean crop a boost, particularly in the autumn/winter session (third crop), in regions affected by the Golden Mosaic, according to the Agricultural Zoning authority of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa).

According to researcher Anésio Bianchini, who is responsible for the development of IPR Celeiro, “It is seen as a possibility that in some years, there will be an increase in planting (the kidney bean) across more than 100,000 hectares of farmland in the state of Paraná alone, where nearly 200,000 hectares are currently affected by the disease. If there is an expansion of market borders, through the industrialisation of kidney beans and exports, this treated area could get a lot bigger.”

Celeiro could contribute to an overall increase in kidney bean production, facilitating the return of the crop to other states affected by the virus. The success of IPR Celeiro at the national level, however, hinges on the extension of the recommendation through tests that are being conducted to this end.

"As there are no other efficient measures to combat the disease, our only option was to develop a resistant variety of kidney bean,” explained Bianchini. The first seeds of IPR Celeiro will be delivered to producers, mostly seed multipliers, in 2017 in time for the autumn-winter crop season.