| Sumario: | This research addresses two key challenges for common bean: adaptation to high temperatures and improvement of grain nutritional value, specifically iron content, without negatively affecting crop yield.
Regarding heat stress, a wide range of bean materials from different origins were evaluated under field conditions and controlled environments with elevated day and night temperatures. High temperatures, particularly at night, negatively affect flowering, seed set, and grain filling, leading to reduced productivity. However, some materials demonstrated the ability to maintain stable yields due to greater efficiency in nutrient production and mobilization, as well as improved filling of the seeds that do form. Lines derived from crosses with related species were also identified as showing favorable responses under these adverse conditions. These results enabled the identification of materials with traits useful for developing bean varieties that are more tolerant to heat and better adapted to climate change scenarios.
On the other hand, increasing iron content in the grain was addressed through the evaluation of different crossing strategies between high-yielding materials and genetic sources with a greater capacity to accumulate this micronutrient. Both compact and climbing plant types were used, along with crosses between common bean and species adapted to soils with low iron availability. The results showed that certain genetic combinations can produce stable lines with higher iron levels in the seed while maintaining competitive yields. In particular, materials derived from species adapted to iron-deficient environments showed high potential for improving the nutritional quality of common bean.
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