Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) crop

production
 Common beans

Climbing bean Types of bean seeds

Bush bean (Determinate)
(Indeterminate)

Types of bean pods Bean plant Bean plant leaf (trifoliate leaf)
Introduction

• Origin in Mesoamerica, and

• Spread southward, along with maize and squash, traditional companion crops.
• It was domesticated about 9,000 years ago.
• It fixes nitrogen by use of a symbiotic bacteria called Rhizombium bacteria.
• It is a diploid plant with 11 pairs of chromosomes (2n = 22).
• Classification
Kingdom – plantae
Order – fabale
Family – fabaceae
Tribe – phaseoleae
Genus – phaseolus
Species – vulgaris
Botanical name: Phaseolus vulgaris
• Bean is a pulse crop plant which is an edible legume. (pulse is a legume produced for its edible
dry seeds). However, some beans are produced and harvested at green stage as a vegetable
like the runner beans, French beans etc.
Botanical description.

Leaves- trifoliate
Leaves and stems are pubescent (covered with hair)
Flowers: are hermaphrodite exhibiting different colours.
Pods – are of different shapes; straight or slightly curved 10-20cm long
and ends with a distinct spur.
Seeds- are of different sizes and colours
Roots – have nodules where the Rhizombium
bacteria lives
• Bean plant development
It undergoes two growth stages:
Vegetative growth (Vn)
Ripening stage (R)
 Bean growth stages

Vegetative (V) stages:

VE – seedling emergence from the soil
VC- cotyledon and unrolled unifoliate
V1 – 1st trifoliate leaf develops
Vn – nth trifoliate. New node is formed
after every 3-5 days

Ripening (R) stages:

R1 – 1st flower open at V5 for determinate type and V8 for indeterminate type
R2 – 50% flower – appearance of 1st pods
R3 – Early pod set – one pod has reached maximum length
R4 – Early seed fill – one pod per plant with fully developed seeds
R6 – Mid seed fill – 50% pods fully developed seeds
R8 – Physiological maturity - (80%) of pods changed colour from green to mature colour.
Some bean types include

• Phaseolus acutifolius (tepary bean)

• Phaseolus coccineus (runner bean)
• Phaseolu lunatus (lima bean)
• Phaseolus vulgaris (common bean; includes the pinto bean, kidney bean, black beean appaloosa bean as
well as green bean and many others)
• Phaseolus polyanthus (recognized as a separate species in 1995)
• Types of common beans
Determinate
Determinate (bush) type
Indeterminate (climbing/trailing) type Indeterminate

• Determinate type
Height – 20-60 cm tall
It is short and hence self-supporting
Main axis terminates in an inflorescence
Short growth duration of 70-120 days depending on altitude and variety
• Indeterminate type
• Height – over 2m tall. This depends on the temperature and soil fertility and moisture levels
• Tall plant that requires support
• Long growth duration of about 270 days in cool climate areas
 Çont’n
Beans are high in: protein, complex carbohydrates, folate and iron.
They also have significant amounts of fiber and soluble fiber.
Soluble fiber help in lowering blood cholesterol
• Flatulence
Beans contain oligosaccharides (a type of sugar molecule also found in cabbage) which requires an
oligosaccharide enzyme to properly digest these sugar molecules. Human digestive tract lack this enzymes, hence
consumed oligosaccharides are typically digested by bacteria in the large intestine. These pass through the upper
intestine largely unchanged, and when they reach the lower intestine, bacteria feed on them, producing copious
amounts of flatus. This digestion process produces gases, such as methane as a by-product, which are then released
as flatulence.
• Trypsin inhibitor - beans contain this chemical which limits protein digestion. The chemical trypsin inhibitor is
destroyed by cooking beans at high temperatures for a long period.
• Toxins
 Some kinds of raw beans contain a harmful, tasteless toxin called lectin phytohaemagglutinin, which must be
removed by cooking. A recommended method is to boil the beans for at least ten minutes; undercooked beans may
be more toxic than raw bean.
 Fermentation is used to improve the nutritional value of beans by removing toxins. Inexpensive fermentation
improves the nutritional impact of flour from dry beans and improves digestibility.
• Beans are a major source of dietary protein in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
• Major world producers
Mayanmar, India, Brazil, China, Mexico, Tanzania, USA, China, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.
 Ecological requirements
• Altitude– the crop does well at an optimum altitude range of up to between 1000-2100m asl. It
however tends to grow and mature faster in low altitude zones.
• Temperature– ranges from 15-33oC.
optimum growing temperature is 20-25oC. Relatively high temperatures affect flowering and pod setting
processes.
High temperatures of above 30oCleads to flower abortion and low pod setting. The crop is very sensitive
to frost this is why they cannot be grown in high altitude areas.
• Rainfall – a well distributed annual rainfall of between 800-2000mm is suitable for the rain fed
production. Irrigation should be done if rainfall is inadequate.
Too much rain or long dry spells are not conducive and reduces yields. Excessive rainfall during
flowering causes flower abortion and increased disease incidences. Dry weather conditions are needed
during harvesting.
• Soil – bean crop thrives in a well-drained soil which is rich in organic matter, weed free and has an
optimum pH of 6.5-7.5. Growth is poor in waterlogged soils. They are highly sensitive to low pH of
below 5.2. Equally they are sensitive to high soil pH due to soil salinity.
• Hailstones – they affect the bean crops both at vegetative and flowering stage. However, its more
serious in determinate types than in indeterminate type.
• Shade – this causes huge flower losses and poor vegetative growth. It is a serious under close spacing
and intercropping.
Field management

• LAND PREPARATION
Clearing of virgin land
Ploughing – done before the rains and done deeply to eradicate
the perennial weeds
Harrowing- done to attain a medium tilth. Avoid over harrowing
that causes fine tilth makes loose soil.
• PROPAGATION
• Propagation is by seeds.
• It is advisable to use certified seeds or those that are disease free.
Wrinkled, damaged and diseased seeds should not be planted.
 Field management cont’n

• Common bean varieties grown in Kenya

• High altitude varieties-Rose Coco, Mwitemania, Wairimu, Mwezi Moja, New
mwezi moja, Canadian Wonder and KK 15
• Low altitude varieties- KAT -B1, KAT-B9, KAT X16, KAT X56, KAT X69
• Planting
Should be done at the onset of the rains if production is rain fed. Delay in sowing
may lead to crop failure or reduced yield.
• Spacing
30-75 cm x 10-15 cm depending on: variety, area (expected rainfall), level of soil
fertility, level of management.
seed-rate
(1-2 seeds per hill), level of field mechanization and famer’s management level
• Planting depth of 3-6 cm.
 Cont’

• SEED INOCULATION
• This is the practice of coating the planting seeds with the right strain of Rhizombium
bacteria (Rhizombium leguminosorum var. phaseoli). This helps to improve crop yield
through nitrogen fixation.
• Planting
• Planting time is determined by:
Level of expected rainfall / Availability of irrigation water.
Soil temperature (optimum temperature of 15.5oC and avoid temperatures of below 13oC as
this affects growth.
Availability of planting materials (seed/fertilizer/chemicals/machinery)
• Intercropping: done with other crops like maize, cassava, bananas. Control the shade by
wide spacing of crops
• Seeds germinate within 4-7days, depending on the variety and environmental factors.
• GAPPING
• This should be done 7 days after emergence
Weed control

Beans require a weed free environment especially before the flowering stage.
Common weed control methods
Proper land preparation
Manual weeding through light cultivation (using hoes or animal/tractor operated implements) and
use of herbicides at two stages:
1st weeding done 2-3 weeks after emergence
2nd weeding done 2-3 weeks after 1st weeding
• Note: avoid weeding during wet period as
• it helps to spread plant diseases and also to prevent soil compaction.
• flowering stage to prevent flower drop
NB: Chemical weed control – (pre-emergence/post-emergence herbicides)
• Earthing-up
This is done by heaping soil around the plant base to minimise lodging. Done at second weeding stage
• Support: this applies to indeterminate type of bean. Support should be erected any immediately
after the emergence.
Fertilizer application

• Seed inoculation
This affects legumes only; adding the proper strain of rhizobia to legume seed or soil so that the
plant can better use atmospheric N. This enhances the benefit of the plant/bacteria association.
Inoculation is necessary because some soils may not contain sufficient number of the bacteria.
Some types or strain disappear rapidly.
Factors that determine the success rate of inoculation;
Soil pH: very acidic soils (below 6.0 pH)
Soil aeration; Soil that lack aeration
Water logging conditions: water logged soil
soil poor in essential nutrient elements e.g. K, Ca, P also account for their absence or fewer
number
Type of Rhizombium: Rhizobium is host specific; low yield or crop failure may be due to the
nodulation of legume by poor types of rhizobia. But, effective strains of rhizobia cause
formation of large, pink nodules on the central tap root system, and cause the fixation of large
amounts of free N. These are desirable ones that are added in inoculation practices, they use
little soil N thereby conserving much of the soil N for the subsequent cereals which will later
follow.
Timing of inoculation

Factors that the inoculation time:

• When the legumes to be planted has not been grown previously on the land to be used.
• If legume previously grown were poorly nodulated.
• When the land has been abused by lack of care or in favourable nature conditions.
• When land is uncropped or grown to non-legumes. It will contain relatively few rhizobia.
Advantages of inoculation
• Prevents N starvation in the current crop.
• Provides residual N for the subsequent crop.
Production practices
Site selection: well drained fertile level or flat surface field
2 seeds per hole at a depth of 4-5 cm. 75 cm x 20 cm spacing [or 60 cm x 30 cm(forest) 30 cm x 30 cm]
Fertilizer application

• Organic manure: needs plenty of organic matter in the soil. Apply

20 ton /Ha of land during the dry period before planting.
• Phosphorous: apply 50 kg P2O5/Ha of land at planting time.
• Nitrogen: it responds to nitrogen application unlike other legumes.
Apply 80kgN/Ha as a top dress in splits. 1st split at weeding stage
and 2nd split at flowering stage. Note: excess nitrogen fertilizer
(1)suppresses nodulation (2)promotes vegetative growth at the
expense of seed formation (3) delays maturity.
 Harvesting
• Maturity index
 Time – depends on variety, altitude (area temperature)
 Yellowing of leaves and plants
 Drying of plants and pods
 Splitting of pods
 Moisture content of below 15%
• Harvesting
 Uprooting of plants early in the morning
 Heaping of plants on an assembled grounds
 Threshing in the afternoon
 Winnowing
 Drying of seeds to a mc of below 12%
 Sorting and grading
 Treatment of seeds with storage chemicals
 Packing (bags, CA, etc)
 Pests

• Field pests
• Bean seed fly (Delia platura)
• White flies
• Flower thrips
• Flower or blister beetles
• Aphids
• Foliage beetles
• Striped bean weevil
• African bollworm
• Leaf miner
• Spider mite
• bug
• Storage pests
• Bean bruchids
Bean fly (ophiomyia spp)

• Bean flies or bean stem maggots are serious pests in Africa.

• The adult is a tiny (about 2mm long) fly, shiny black-bluish in colour.
• Signs
Damage is more severe in plants growing under poor conditions such as infertile
soils and drought.
• The female fly pierces the young leaves to lay eggs and sucks the exuding sap.
• This leaves yellow blotches on the leaves
• Swelling of stem base at soil level (Maggots mine their way from the leaves down to the base
of the stem)
• Maggot feeding destroys the tissue causing the stem to swell and split and
• Reduction of lateral roots.
• Attacked plants produce adventitious roots in compensation.
• Stunted growth
• Reduced yield reduced.
Control

 Plant early in the season. Bean fly numbers tend to be low during the early stages of the growing season and
increase with time.
 Provide favourable growing conditions to improve plant vigour and to enhance tolerance to insect attack and
damage. For instance, soil fertility can be improved by adding organic fertilisers and well decomposed
farmyard manure.
 Mulch (e.g. with straw and cut grasses) helps conserve moisture, promote adventitious root development and
enhances tolerance to maggot damage.
 Avoid planting beans near cowpea, soybean and many other leguminous crops, that may be the source of
bean flies.
 Remove and destroy crop residues and all plant parts with symptoms of damage by bean flies.
 Earth up (building up) the soil around the plants to cover the roots at 2-3 weeks after emergence helps the
adventitious roots to grow more quickly. If there is enough moisture, the plants are able to recover from the
damage.
 Use botanical insecticides such as neem. It has been shown that frequent foliar application with neem extract
gives satisfactory control of this pest.
 Use resistant varieties: Several lines of dry beans have been identified as having good levels of resistance to
bean flies in East Africa. These lines are available form the CIAT Regional Programme and from national
agricultural research programmes in the region.
Aphids (Aphis spp)

• Are black to dark brown brownish in colour and winged or wingless and vary in size from 1.5 to 3.0 mm.
• Aphids feed by sucking plant sap.
Signs
• Wrinkled leaves,
• stunted growth
• deformed pods.
• Plants, in particular young plants, may dry out and
die under heavy aphid attack.
• Heavy attack on older plants may cause crop loss by
decreasing flower and pod production.
• Damage causes reduction in seed viability.
• plants are contaminated with honeydew produced by aphids and sooty mould
growing on honeydew.
Control
 Conserve natural enemies. They are important in natural control of aphids. Monitor regularly the crop.
 Whenever necessary spray only infested plants (spot spraying).
 Mulching
 irrigation
 Use pesticides that are not harmful to natural enemies (e.g. neem, ashes, soapy water).
Foliage beetles (Ootheca spp.; Monolepta spp.)

• In East Africa foliage beetles (Ootheca spp.; Monolepta spp.) are commonly found feeding on
bean leaves. Foliage beetles chew small round holes in the leaves. They are about 4-7mm long.
They may be a serious problem when present in large numbers or when attacking young plants.
Heavy attacks may cause defoliation. Attack on young plants may reduce plant vigour, plant size
and yield. The problem is more acute in fields with continuous growing of beans
• Ootheca beetles are normally not serious pest of French beans, but are an important pest of
common beans in East Africa. The larvae (grubs) of foliage beetles live in the soil feeding on
roots. Their feeding may cause stunted growth and premature ageing of the plants.
• Grubs of weevils live in the soil feeding on roots or may bore into the stem of the bean plant
causing swellings or galls, as is the case of the striped bean weevil. Plants attacked by grubs of
this weevil show stunted growth and may die. The stem of the plant breaks easily during
harvesting (see more below).
• Control
• Practice post harvest tillage to expose the grubs in the soil to the sun heat and to predators.
• Rotate beans with non-host plants such as maize or sunflower to break the development cycle of
the pest.
• Delay sowing, where practicable, to allow the crop to escape from high populations.
• Apply neem; it has been shown to reduce flea beetle numbers and damage.
 Spider mites
(Tetranychus spp.)
• Spider mites feeding on bean plants may
• Signs
• cause reduction in plant growth, flowering, number and length of pods, and number of seeds per pod.
Damage is most severe when mites attack young plants.
• Mite damage may be particularly severe during the dry season.
• Yellowing of plants
• Cob webs on the under side of leaves
• Spiders on the lower leaf side
• Control:
• Avoid planting next to infested fields.
• Avoid frequent use of broad-spectrum pesticides, particulary pyrethroids; this may lead to spider mite
outbreaks.
• Use overhead irrigation or wash plants with a strong jet of water to knock off mites and to destroy their
webs. Be sure to spray the underneath of the leaves. However, this should be done early in the day to allow
the foliage to dry. Wetness of the foliage for an extended period is conducive to development of fungal
diseases
• Spraying with pesticides: miticide, neem oil, pyrethrins, azadirachtin and horticultural oil
Common blight
• Causal agent: fungus - Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. Phaseoli
Signs
• Areas of attack: leaves, pods, stems and seeds.
• Small water-soaked spots are the first symptoms observed on leaves and appear within 4 to 10 days of
infection.
• As the spots develop, the centre becomes dry and brown.
• The lesion is surrounded by a narrow band of bright yellow tissue.
• However, yellowed tissue is occasionally absent.
Control:
Intercropping bean with maize was shown to reduce the severity.
Use certified disease-free seed.
Plant resistant varieties (e.g. French bean variety 'Paulista').
Plough under bean debris after harvest.
Practise a 2-3 year crop rotation without legumes.
Do not work in bean fields when the plants are wet.
If blight is observed on scattered plants, spot application of copper hydroxide could be considered.
 Fusarium root rot (Fusarium solani f. sp. phaseoli)

• Seedlings infected with Fusarium root rot appear dwarfed. The primary leaves are often yellow, later
turning necrotic and finally the seedlings wilt. Fusarium species infect bean roots when the soil is too
wet, or too hot for good bean growth. The fungus survives in soil for long period.
• control:
• Plough deeply bean debris after harvest.
• Practise a 6 to 8 year crop rotation without legumes.
• Do not feed livestock old bean straw if manure is to be used on bean fields.
• Plant beans in hills or ridges in heavy soils.
• Seed treatment with Trichoderma spp.
• A commercial biopesticide is registered in Kenya under the name Rootgard(R).
Bean rust (Uromyces appendiculatus var. appendiculatus)

• Signs
• Rust spots (pustules) appear on all parts above the ground. They are most numerous on leaves, particularly
on the underside. They are less abundant on stems and occur sparingly on pods. Initial symptoms are
minute, slightly raised yellow pustules, which later become distinct circles, reddish brown in colour and
surrounded by a yellow halo. The disease is spread long distance by wind. Plant to plant spread of the
disease is by farm tools, insects or water splash. Severely infected leaves drop off.
• Control:
• Certified seeds
 Destroy crop residues after harvesting.
 Avoid continuous cropping of beans.
 Practise a 2 to 3 year crop rotation without legumes.
 Intercrop with cereals.
 Plant resistant varieties where available (e.g. French bean varieties 'Theresa' and "Super Monet").
 A number of pesticides are available in the market. There are reports claiming that baking soda, compost tea
spray, EM (effective microorganisms) and papaya leaf extract control bean rust.
Bean fly
 The bean seed fly small houseflies. It is about 1cm long.
 Female flies are attracted to recently disturbed open soil, where they lay eggs, especially where
there are plant residues or when large amount of manure has been applied.
 The maggots bore into germinating bean seeds or the cotyledons (first seed leaves) of the young
plant eating them. This causes patchy emergence of seedlings.
 If damaged plants emerge, they are stunted, weak and fail to develop into productive plants.
 Pupation takes place in the soil, 2-4 cm under the soil surface.
• Control
• Limit the amount of organic matter before planting in areas
with a known history of bean seed flies.
s
• Avoid sowing into recently ploughed land in areas where this fly
is a problem.
• Spraying with insecticides from emergence stage
 White flies

Adults are small (1-3 mm long), with two pairs of wings that are held roof-like over the
body. They resemble very small moths.
Both the larvae and the adults pierce and suck the sap from leaves, Signs
 reduced plant growth,
 yellowing of leaves, and
 wilting of the plant when present in large numbers. They
 produce honeydew, which may lead to growth of sooty mould on leaves and pods.
Heavy growth of sooty mould reduces photosynthesis affecting plant growth

 Control
 Spraying of chemicals
 Spraying with detergents
African bollworm

They feed on leaves, flowers, pods and seeds. The African bollworm
caterpillars are 3 to 4 cm long.
They make clean circular holes in the pods.
They web together flowers, pods and
leaves with excrements.
• Control
• Early planting
• Spraying with chemicals
• Planting clean seeds
Cutworms
• Attack young seedlings.
• The caterpillar emerges from the soil at night, encircles the plant with its body and cut through
the stem of young plants just above ground level. They may also damage the plants underground.
Cutworm damage causes plants to wilt and die.
• Control:
• Monitor damage by counting damaged and
freshly cut young plants. Monitor cutworm at dawn.
• Remove and destroy cutworms.
• Prepare field and remove weeds well ahead (10-14 days)
of planting the crop in the field. Ploughing exposes caterpillars to predators and to desiccation
by the sun. If the field is planted soon after land preparation some cutworms may be alive and
attack the new crop.
• Spraying with insectIcides
Bean bruchid
• Bean bruchid (dry bean weevil) (Acanthoscelides obtectus) and Mexican bean weevil are storage
pests, attacking dried beans.
• They are small beetles (3-5 mm) grey, brown to reddish-brown in colour. Females of the dry bean
weevil lay eggs glued to the bean seeds
• Development takes place inside the bean and takes about one month before the adult emerges. The
larvae feed on the seeds destroying them or reducing germination capacity. The adult emerges from
the seeds leaving small round holes on the bean seeds. Heavy infestation can result in a large
number of holed seeds, with adults moving across the stored beans.
• The dry bean weevil can attack pods in the field laying eggs on ripening pods. The Mexican bean
weevil attacks only beans in storage.
• control- storage hygiene, proper

• drying of seed before storage,

• treatment with storage chemicals
 Anthracnose
• Causal agent- fungus (Colletotrichum lindemuthianum)
• Symptoms of anthracnose can appear on any plant part.
• Pale brown sunken spots may appear on the cotyledons of infected seedlings.
• Girdling of hypocotyl leading to death of the seedling kills the seedling.
• Dark brown lesions restricted to the veins on lower leaf surface.
• Elongated and sunken dark brown lesions on the stems.
• Black, sunken lesions on the pods. These lesions penetrate deep into the pods and may cause shrivelling of the
young pods. Infected seed become discoloured changing to yellow through brown to black.
• In damp weather, the centres of anthracnose lesions become covered with a pink spore mass. The disease is
seed-borne.
• What to do:
• Use certified disease-free seeds.
• Plant resistant varieties
• Remove from the field and destroy crop debris after harvest.
• Practise a 2 to 3 year rotation.
• Avoid overhead irrigation.
• Avoid movement of workers in the field when wet.
Halo blight
• Causal agent – bacteria Pseudomonas syringae var. phaseolicola
• Symptoms occur on bean foliage.
• Small water-soaked spots resembling pin pricks appear on the lower leaf surface.
• Brown spots surrounded by a yellow ring.
• small water-soaked pin pricks lesions on the pod surface. These lesions gradually
enlarge to form dark sunken spots of various sizes.
• A whitish bacterial ooze appears on the spots when wet.
• What to do:
• Use certified disease-free seed.
• Plant resistant varieties Practise a 2-3 year crop rotation without legumes.
• Plough under bean debris after harvest.
• Do not work in bean fields when the plants are wet.
• Chemical control: spot application of copper hydroxide could be considered.
 Angular leaf spot
• Causa agent: fungus phaeoisariopsis griseola
• The disease is seed-borne.
• Predisposing factors: high moisture and moderate temperatures (20-25oC).
• Symptoms
• Numerous small dark brown spots with angular edges giving the foliage a checker-board
appearance.
• yellowing and necrosis of the affected leaves.
• This may lead to premature defoliation.
• Pods have brown blotches.
• Control:
• Use certified disease-free seed.
• Plough under bean debris after harvest.
• Practise a 2-3 year crop rotation without legumes.
• Do not work in bean fields when the plants are wet.
Powdery mildew
• Causal agent: fungus Erysiphe polygoni
• Areas of attack: Leaf petioles, stems and pods.

• Signs:
• A white powdery mould appears on the upper leaf surfaces.
• Severely diseased leaves turn yellow and die.
• Control:
• Plough under bean debris after harvest.
• Practise a 2-3 year crop rotation without legumes.
• Avoid continuous bean cropping.
Root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita)
• Signs
• They cause stunting and yellowing of plants with a tendency to wilt in hot weather.
• Swollen distorted roots, and bearing knots of various sizes.
• Infested roots under severe infestation decay.
• These knots should not be confused with legume nodules, which are normally small and round,
and are attached to the outside of the roots, whereas swellings of root-knot nematodes are within
the body of the root. When active nodules are sliced, they are pinkish in colour.
• Control:
• Practise a 2-3 year crop rotation with cereals, maize or grasses.
• Direct surface irrigation water from new to old bean fields.
• Maintain fields weed-free.
• Uproot and destroy entire plants after harvest.
• Amend soil with neem cake or green manure of marigold.
• Maintain high levels of organic matter in the soil.
• Chemical control