2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus) is the most widely grown vegetable crop in Delaware. Green seeded baby lima bean types predominate (over 95% of the crop). Specialty lima beans of other types currently represent less than 5% of the lima beans grown in Delaware. The University of Delaware initiated a breeding program in 2005, focusing on green baby lima types. In the breeding program, diverse lima bean germplasm is used for crosses and a wide variety of colors, forms, and qualities result in the progeny. Seed of several specialty succulent lima beans already collected or developed as offshoots of the UD green baby lima breeding program have been identified and increased for use in 2018 field trials. This includes three red speckled baby types, two white seeded baby types, 5 multicolored baby types, and one striped Fordhook type. Seed of 12 additional fixed breeding lines from the UD breeding program not previously evaluated and selected germplasm from USDA germplasm collections have been identified for increase to use in small plot trials in 2018 and further increase. In addition, an additional 16 indeterminate specialty pole types have been identified and will be used for seed increase in 2018. A collection of 220 diverse lines maintained by the UD lima bean breading program has been obtained and has evaluated for cooking and eating characteristics for use in further breeding of specialty limas. To evaluate consumer acceptance of available specialty succulent and dry stage lima beans from the UD breeding program, each breeding line was grown to succulent and dry stage in 2017. Succulent seed was shelled from pods, and was then blanched and frozen. Consumer tests were conducted on from December 2017 through March of 2018. Ten succulent and 9 dry stage samples were cooked and then used for consumer evaluations. A Hedonic ranking test was performed on the following attributes: Overall Appearance, Color, Taste, and Texture. Rankings were 5 Like a lot, to 1 Dislike a lot. Tasters were also encouraged to list descriptors including: buttery, nutty, bland, sweet, metallic, or bitter. The specialty lima bean line DE0901201B, which produced a blend of green and white seed when cooked, had the highest overall oganolepic ratings (appearance, color, taste, and texture). Two additional lines DE1002303A (light purple mix when cooked) and DE0900604 Light Red (light purple green mix cooked) had high ratings for taste and texture but lower ratings for overall appearance and color. Dark red and speckled selections that cooked brown to chocolate in color had more mixed ratings for all properties.