DR Wood: A full-Maturity, Direct Harvest, Disease Resistant Pinto Bean

The development of an upright (Type II) pinto bean, as opposed to prostrate architecture (type III) is advantageous. Traditionally, the harvest operation for dry beans is a two-step process. First, the beans are cut or pulled to form windrows, and allowed to dry in the fields to ensure uniform dry down. Then the windrows are picked and threshed. This standard method of harvest requires more time, multiple pieces of equipment, and additional personnel in some cases. In addition, seed yield and quality may be affected by environmental factors such as rain and/or frost, and harvest schedules of other crops within the same farm (1).

With an upright plant architecture, direct harvesting of the bean in one pass is achievable, similar to other crops such as soybeans. This saves time and reduces the workload for producers, as well as reduces equipment and personnel costs. The DR Wood variety is also resistant to many bean crop diseases, and results in a high quality dry bean with the desirable cream background color.