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Historic bean variety to boost early maturity for Western CanadaDate posted: February 10, 2003A dry bean that helped sustain the Lewis & Clark expedition of the 1800s has been newly registered to benefit Western Canada’s booming bean industry. Arikara Yellow is a dry bean with excellent early maturity, says bean breeder Dr. Hans-Henning Mündel of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lethbridge Research Centre. It is named after the Dakota Indian tribe that Lewis & Clark encountered during their famous expedition to explore the uncharted western U.S. “This bean provides our growers with an early maturing option,” says Mündel, who produced pedigreed seed of the variety in collaboration with David Gehl of the AAFC Indian Head Research Farm. “Most importantly, it provides a valuable breeding tool to improve early maturity in our future varieties.”Arikara Yellow is the first dry bean in Canada registered to the Canario mexicano (also called Mantequilla) market class, he says. It produces a sizeable bean, slightly larger than a pinto, and is widely adapted to the Prairies. In addition to early maturity, the variety features an upright and bushy growth habit. Though it yields lower than most modern varieties, Arikara Yellow shows excellent lodging resistance and moderate white mould resistance. “What interested us most about Arikara Yellow was its earliness,” says Mündel. “Most beans grown in western Canada are U.S. varieties that are sensitive to latitude and agri-ecological niches, and have late maturity for our climate. We have already started crossing Arikara Yellow with other lines to transfer this characteristic.” Arikara Yellow was first maintained by Seed Savers Exchange, a U.S.-based organization that maintains heritage varieties of horticultural and field crops. The bean was brought to Ontario in 1986, and Seeds of Diversity Canada (SoDC), Canada's heritage seed program, has since offered Arikara Yellow to home gardeners through an annual seed list. Gehl obtained the seed from a SoDC member to grow in his own garden. Noticing its early maturity, he recommended the bean to Mündel and provided the first seed for the AAFC tests. Replicated trials of the Arikara Yellow began in 1998 and the line was advanced to the Co-operative Registration Test in 2000 and 2001. As the cultivar had no obvious group it should be compared to, different market-class checks were used in each year of testing. Arikara Yellow was finally ascribed to the Canario mexicano market-class and registered in December 2002. In researching the heritage of Arikara Yellow, the bean was described as “exceedingly hardy, drought resistant, and an excellent baking bean.” “Cooking quality parameters are not included in the co-operative testing of beans for the Prairies,” says Gehl. “For this reason we cannot claim these qualities in the marketing of Arikara Yellow.” Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lethbridge Research Centre has a mandate to promote innovation for growth, maintain security of the food system and protect the health of the environment.
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Farmers' voice critical in Alberta's Land-use Framework consultations 