2017 ASHS Annual Conference

The objective is to gain knowledge regarding variation in sugar and flavor content among a sample of dry bean and green pod-type accessions from the USDA Phaseolus Germplasm Core Collection, Pullman, WA. The results could be used to market product quality and offer unique opportunities to expand market share to an increasingly health conscious population. We developed a diverse sub-core of 94 Plant Introductions (PI) characterized as snap beans, Romano-types, and other beans eaten as edible immature pods, and 20 dry bean PI accessions. Accessions were grown in replicated trials at the West Madison Agriculture Experiment Station, Madison, WI and five pods sampled from each plot when the pods were sieve size 4 (8.33-9.52 mm) 90^o off the suture. A large positive correlation (r=0.79**) was observed between the simple sugars glucose and fructose. In contrast a large negative correlation was observed between the disaccharide sucrose with both monosaccharides, glucose (r=-0.37) and fructose (r=-0.43). Glucose concentration had a mean of 19.96 mg g^-1 dry weight, and ranged from near zero to over 40mg g^-1 dry weight. P.I accessions with high concentrations of sucrose were generally heirloom and modern commercial snap beans cultivars, e.g. Provider, Eagle, Cascade, Hystyle and BBL47. Fructose concentration had a mean of 19.9 mg g^-1 dry weight, and ranged from near zero to over 50mg g^-1 dry weight.