Pastor-Corrales traveled to South Africa to evaluate the Andean Diversity Panel (ADP), a common

In Cedara, South Africa, Dr. Pastor-Corrales in front of a bean susceptible to rust.

bean nursery comprised of some 350 Andean common bean cultivars. The large-seeded Andean beans are the preferred dry bean type planted and consumed in Eastern and Southern African countries. Diseases, including rust, are a significant limitation to dry bean production in this area and rust is recurrent and widespread.

The ADP was planted in Cedara Agricultural Research Station, KwaZulu-Natal Province. The rust disease was quite severe throughout the field in all susceptible check cultivars, indicating that 2013 was an excellent year and Cedara an excellent site for the rust evaluation of the ADP. About 75 of the 350 ADP entries were resistant to rust; 99 entries were susceptible and the other entries were intermediate in their reaction to rust.

In Chilanga, Zambia, evaluating the ADP for root rot with local collaborators.

The resistant cultivars are candidates for further rust evaluation under greenhouse conditions in Beltsville, Maryland. Some of these cultivars with rust resistance in future evaluations will be used as parents to improve the rust resistance in common bean cultivars planted by farmers in Easter and Southern African countries. Pastor-Corrales also traveled to Zambia to evaluate the ADP for reaction to soil borne pathogens that cause root rot of beans. Based on the emergence of young pants evaluated, two root diseases were found and about 100 ADP entries had excellent germination suggesting that they may be resistant to root rots. Additional evaluations are needed to identify those with genetic resistance to root rots.