Farmers soon will have new edible bean varieties to plant that were developed by a North Dakota State University dry bean plant breeder.
Juan Osorno introduced North Dakota Rodeo, a slow-darkening pinto bean variety, and North Dakota dark red kidney variety, North Dakota Red Barn, to farmers at Northarvest Bean Day in Fargo on Jan. 20, 2023.
North Dakota Red Barn has a shape similar to Montcalm, a variety released in 1973, that still is the industry standard for kidney bean shape. The Red Barn variety, though developed in North Dakota, also will be planted in Minnesota, the largest kidney bean state in the U.S. More than 50% of the kidney beans in the country are grown in Minnesota, Osorno said.
Besides a superior seed shape, trials conducted from 2012 to 2021 showed that Red Barn had good yields — 300 pounds per acre higher than Montcalm — and white mold tolerance and intermediate resistance to common bacterial blight and the root rot complex, Osorno said.
Osorno also talked about North Dakota Rodeo, a new pinto bean variety, at Northarvest Bean Day.
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“I think it’s going to be another good option for farmers, especially those who are dealing with slow-darkening pintos,” Osorno said. Farmers appear to have definite opinions on planting slow-darkening pinto beans, either loving them or hating them, he said.
North Dakota Rodeo has potential because it is high yielding, something that has been an issue with earlier slow-darkening varieties. For example, NDSU Extension edible bean trials conducted between 2017 and 2022 showed that North Dakota Rodeo yielded an average of 22.7 hundredweight per acre, 3.9 hundredweight higher than North Dakota Palomino and 5.6 hundredweight higher than Vibrant, two other slow-darkening pinto varieties. North Dakota Rodeo also yielded 1.6 hundredweight and 1 hundredweight per acre, respectively, more than the conventional pinto bean varieties of Monterey and LaPaz, Osorno said.
“Criticism was, slow-darkening pintos don’t yield as well as conventional varieties. I think we’re finally being able to break that barrier,” he said.
The hope is that North Dakota Rodeo will be an improved version of Lariat, an older pinto bean variety that farmers liked, he said.
Besides consistently above average yields in research trials, North Dakota Rodeo also stands up well and has good tolerance to bacterial blight, Osorno said.
Foundation seed of Red Barn and Rodeo will be available for the 2023 growing season.
In 2022, Osorno announced the release of North Dakota Polar, the newest navy bean variety in about 10 years. The navy bean variety offers higher seed yield than other navy bean varieties commonly grown in the region. In addition, it offers a good agronomic package for the rest of the traits of economic importance.
The foundation North Dakota Polar navy bean seed was made available to certified seed producers in 2022 and will be available to farmers in the 2023 growing season.
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