Effects of Root and Shoot Architecture on Nutrition in Dry Bean

Wild beans are typically long vines, but with the advent of large-scale farming systems, domesticated beans have been bred for short-statured shoot architecture to increase production using combine harvesting. Because shoot and root architecture are often governed by the same genetic mechanisms, there may have been indirect selection on root traits. If so, these same root traits may affect dry beans' ability to forage for soil nutrients. This project will investigate root and shoot architecture features of wild and cultivated beans with respect to breeding and improvement over the last 100 years.