As we embark on a new season, we want to share the results from the 2024 UC Davis blackeye variety trial. We will continue variety evaluations in 2025.
We planted a small-plot replicated blackeye bean variety trial on the UC Davis campus on May 24, 2024. Nine varieties were planted, including three industry standards, one newly released cultivar, and five advanced breeding lines (Table 1). The plots were 5-feet wide by 20-feet long, with two rows of beans planted down the bed. Each plot was planted with 160 seeds. The seeds were not inoculated before planting. Fertilizer and pest management was applied consistently across all plots. The soil type at the site is a Yolo silt loam, and the soil temperature was approximately 65 degrees Fahrenheit at planting. Seasonal weather conditions were marked by 22 days with a maximum air temperature that met or exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit (Figure 1). There was no precipitation during the growing season.
Stand counts were made approximately one month after planting on June 26, 2024. The stand was assessed by counting all live plants per plot. Flowering was observed in July and early August and recorded as the number of days after planting. The trial was harvested on October 4, 2024. The plots in their entirety were harvested using a Zürn small-plot combine. Samples were sieved on-site to remove debris and weighed. Seed moisture was measured on the same day. We evaluated 100-seed weight as a measure of seed size, evaluating five 100-seed samples per variety. We also evaluated lygus damage on these harvest samples, counting the number of beans with stings in each 100-seed sample. Nutritional traits were also characterized. Results were statistically analyzed and are summarized in Tables 2 and 3 as the average across four replications.
In Table 2, the varieties are sorted by harvested yield, which is expressed at 13% moisture. There were significant differences among varieties for stand count, flowering, and 100-seed weight. Variety 07KN-74 had a significantly lower stand count than nearly all of the other varieties. We anticipated that this would negatively impact its yield, but it did not, indicating that the plants were able to fill the beds and produce a large crop. Most varieties reached flowering between 47 and 56 days after planting, but experimental line 2020-012-026-064-07 took significantly longer to reach flowering, particularly compared to industry standard CB46. Varieties CB5 and CB50 had the largest seed size of all the varieties, and newly-released CB77 had the smallest. CB50 had the highest harvest yield among the varieties, but it also was impacted by lygus more than some of the newer material. CB77 and soon-to-be-released N2 yielded higher than industry-standard CB46 and had slightly lower lygus damage (though not statistically different).
In Table 3, varieties are sorted by protein. There were significant differences among varieties for fat, starch, and protein. 07KN-74 had significantly higher fat than a couple of the newer advanced lines and statistically higher starch than most of the other material. It had, however, the lowest protein of all varieties. Together, these results support plant breeding efforts to bring high-yielding, pest resistant varieties to the market to support the California blackeye bean industry.
