Researchers from the American Society of Agronomy created a new pinto bean that is resistant to leafhoppers and droughts.

Seeds of the new leafhopper and drought resistant pinto bean, called TARS-LH1. Source: Tim Porch

Leafhoppers are tiny insects around 3 mm long that damage crops, causing crop losses of up to 20% in temperate climates and up to 75% in tropical areas. To fight this issue, researchers have developed a more resistant pinto bean.

The new pinto bean, called TARS-LH1, has increased resistance to leafhoppers and drought tolerance, while producing high yields. The pinto bean is a vital crop that is responsible for more than one-third of all edible dry beans produced in the U.S.

Pinto beans are targeted by two kinds of leafhoppers: empoasca fabea and empoasca kraemeri. Empoasca fabea are predominant in temperate climates and empoasca kraemeri appear in mainly tropical areas, however, TARS-LH1 is resistant to both types.

The team tested TARS-LH1’s leafhopper resistance in multiple locations. Michigan State University Crop and Soil Science Research Farm in East Lansing, Michigan, served as the temperate test site, while Haiti and Puerto Rico both served as tropical testing sites. Conducted over several years, testing proved that TARS-LH1 was resistant to both leafhopper species with a broad adaptation to climates.

Leafhoppers feed on plant sap, which causes hopperburn. Symptoms of hopperburn are leaf burn, wherein leaves turn yellow at the tip and around the edges and curl down.

One challenge the researchers faced during testing was accurately collecting data to measure the leafhopper damage. This is key to verifying if varieties are resistant to pests. To overcome this, the team counted the number of leafhoppers and flightless leafhopper nymphs common on bean leaves, evaluating hopperburn at the same time.

In addition to its resistance to leafhoppers, the TARS-LH1 is also drought tolerant. Droughts often happen at the same time as leafhopper infections. With climate change, drought tolerance is becoming more important over time.

A paper on this research was published in the Journal of Plant Registrations.