UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION BERKELEY 4, CALIFORNIA SUTTER PINK BEANS FRANCIS L. SMITH 1 The problem of developing a variety of pink beans adapted to the unique climatic and cul- tural conditions of the Sutter Basin was pre- , sented to the agronomists of the University of California just ten years ago. The growers of the district wanted a variety to plant in May or June so that it would mature early in October or the latter part of September and escape the fall rains. The pink beans in Sutter Basin often were damaged by rain; and a consequent reputation for poor quality was being reflected in lower prices than were paid for beans of the same variety grown in other sections. A table or chart showing the dates of the first fall rains over a period of years might be given. It would tell, however, only part of the story: an inch of rain coming by October 15, fol- lowed by clear weather, would not have the same result as an equal amount of rain spread over several days or intermittent days and accompanied by fog. Little harm is done if the beans are rained on before being cut. But if they become wet while drying in windrows , they must be turned over after a few days to allow the bottom of the piles to dry; and if more rain follows, the turn- ing must be repeated. In some foggy, damp falls, the windrows are literally worn out by turning. When the rain has been sufficient to wet the beans inside the unthreshed pods, they swell and become soft. In some years a large percentage of the Pink beans must be artificially dried be- fore being stored. They lose their bright color and have a brownish cast, besides a wrinkled surface caused by contraction of the seed coat after swelling. Such beans are of course infer- ior to those threshed before the rains. With each rain and each turning, the quality is im- paired. In extreme cases, if they can be har- vested at all, they are fit only for sheep feed. The greater the proportion of the crop that can be harvested before the rain, the better for the beans, the farmer, the price, and the indus- try. The ideal bean for this section should be threshed by the middle of October. This date can ordinarily be considered a safe one, for the rains usually begin a little later. Of course there are years like 1943, when bean harvesting could be successfully carried on for at least another full month. Assistant Agronomist in the Experiment Station. So, in presenting their problem to the Uni- versity agronomists, the Sutter Basin bean growers thought that if they had a variety to plant early, they could harvest it in time to avoid the rain hazard. Date-of-Planting Tests In 1934 a date-of-planting test was begun in Sutter Basin. About 70 selections and varieties of beans were planted in May, June, and July. This test was run for three years. The results were somewhat disheartening because none of the selections made a good crop of beans when planted in May or even up to the middle of June. The vine growth was enormous, but the flowers were shed when the plants bloomed during the hot weather of July and August. Only when the tem- peratures declined a little in August could the plants set any seed. But this second set of blossoms was light, and the resulting crop was almost a failure. The problem then appeared even worse, because there was disastrous weather at both ends of the growing season. Sufficient evi- dence was obtained to eliminate the possibility of trying to change the normal bean-growing sea- son to evade the weather hazards. Introduction of Early Pink About this time a variety known as Early Pink, or Seventy Day Pink, was becoming very popular in the Sutter Basin because of its extreme earliness. Its origin is somewhat obscure. Apparently it was picked out as a plant selection in Pink beans by a Japanese farmer. In 1931 there were 17 bags. The whole lot was bought by a grower in the Basin and increased. In 1932 he had 90 acres, from which he harvested 2,200 bags. This seed was soon disseminated over the valley. Although the selection is early, the quality of these beans is rather poor. The seeds are smaller than Standard Pink, and a large proportion of them have pitted and wrinkled seed coats. The plants, too, are small and are hard to handle with the ordinary bean-harvesting machinery, especially the side-delivery rake; often they are not large enough to be readily picked up. The yield, as a rule, is considerably lighter than that of Standard Pink. Still, the variety kept its popularity because of its earliness: farmers would rather grow a light crop with assurance than gamble on a larger-yield- ing, later variety that might be rained on. [1] Purification of Standard Pink and Early Pink Both varieties showed much variation. Accord- ingly, rather than leave the growers without any- thing tangible from the experiments, an effort was made to isolate and increase high-yielding selections from each variety. Since beans are self-pollinated, it is easy to isolate pure strains by making plant selections. By using several measures of productivity and quality, the better lines were isolated and increased, to replace the variety from which they came. This was done with Standard Pink, beginning with about 300 plant selections and testing each in progeny rows. Every year the number kept was reduced, until finally what appeared to be the best one of the lot was determined. This selection was increased and distributed as Standard Pink 38. Since the variation in Early Pink was more pronounced, the original sample consisted of over 600 plants, which were tested in progeny rows. Two types of seed were found. One was bright pink; but the seed coat, instead of being smooth, was wrinkled and pitted. The other had large, smocth, plump seed; but instead of being bright pink, it had a brownish cast. When three years of testing had shown that selections of the bright-pink type outyielded the other, the best one was increased and released to the growers as Early Pink 38. Hybridization Experiments In none of the 600 plant selections made in Early Pink was the desired combination of bright pink color and plump, smooth seed coats found in one plant. An effort was therefore made to ob- tain such a bean by hybridization. Instead of crossing the two Early Pink types, Standard Pink was crossed with Early Pink, because there was a greater difference between the two varieties than between the two types and thus a greater opportunity of obtaining new types. To maintain earliness, a program of selection of the early plants in the hybrid populations and backcross- ing to Early Pink was practiced. These hybrids were grown in the bean-breeding nursery at Berkeley. In the fall of 1938 about 3,000 hybrid plants were harvested separately. The seed of each was examined; and selections were made for color, size, and smoothness. The better ones were saved, and about two thirds were discarded. The seed was used to plant 1,044 progeny rows in the Sut- ter Basin plots in 1939. These rows consisted of backcrosses and hybrid plants of the original cross in the fifth generation. Every tenth row throughout the plot was planted with Early Pink as a check row. Notes were taken on the maturity of each progeny row. There was a range of ma- turity in this material from rows slightly earli- er than Early Pink to rows almost as late as Standard Pink, despite the selection made in the breeding nursery in the previous years. In going over progeny rows in 1939, it was quite apparent that this plot contained the po- tential answer to the climatic problem. The types that matured as early as Early Pink tended to have small plants, but in some of the later- maturing ones were rows with vines approaching Standard Pink in size. Seeds of many of the se- ^ lections were plump and bright. The growers, at ™ a meeting held in the plots, decided that the more vigorous types should be investigated fur- ther and, if the quality remained good, should be used. They expressed willingness to sacrifice a few days' maturity in order to get a more vigor- ous plant growth. The problem, therefore, was to find which one of the thousand selections was the best. Since quality characteristics were of primary concern, a seed sample was taken from each of 8 plants at random in every progeny row. These -8 samples were compared. If they showed uniform high quality, 12 plants were harvested separately from that row. If, however, the 8-plant sample was not outstanding, the row was discarded. Only 80 rows were saved, or over nine tenths of the selections were discarded. These plant samples were later subjected to other tests on size and uniformity. From 2 to 8 plants were chosen from each of 77 progenies for testing in 1940. Notes were taken on maturity; and if the sister progen- ies (plants from the same 1939 row) showed any variation in maturity among themselves, the family was discarded. The other rows were harvested, and yield calculations were made. Thus, by rigid selection, only progenies showing the greatest uniformity in size, shape, color, freedom from pits and wrinkles, and maturity were kept for further tests. In 1941 a total of 24 selections were planted in 4-row blocks 30 feet long, each replicated 6 times. The 24 selections were divided into 6 groups, and to each group were added Standard Pink and Early Pink as check plots. After col- lection and analysis of the data on these plots, only 10 selections were considered worthy of further test. In 1942 these 10 selections were again tested by the same sort of experimental technique as in 1941. Two plantings were made (on June 29 and on July 23) to simulate single- and double-crop practices and to see whether the hybrid selections could be used in a double- cropping system. In addition to the plots, 9 of the selections were increased in 0.8-acre blocks. Thus a year was saved in getting the variety into production. At the finish of the 1942 tests, it was decided which selection should be chosen. This selection was then named Sutter Pink. In 1943 seven selections were tested, including Sutter Pink, Standard Pink, and Early Pink, £ each replicated seven times. As should be apparent from the foregoing ac- count, the data now collected on yield, size, maturity, and quality of the selections worked with are voluminous. From the mass of figures has been extracted the four-year record of Sutter [2] Pink, together with the yields of Standard and Early Pink. This information is summarized in table 1. Seed from the 1942 increase block of Sutter Pink was planted on 50 acres in 1943. The re- sulting seed when recleaned in the University warehouse amounted to 691 bags of beans. These were carefully distributed to as many growers as possible, each being limited to 20 bags. Seed is now available for about 2,000 acres in 1944; and by 1945 there will be sufficient for everyone. Thus, in a rather roundabout fashion, a cli- matic problem of the Sutter Basin bean farmers especially, and the Sacramento Valley generally, has now been. solved. Description of the Sutter Pink Variety Since this variety was derived from crossing Standard Pink and Early Pink, the seed charac- teristics are normal for Pink beans and will therefore conform to the trade requirements of that market class of dry beans. The seed is, however, larger than Early Pink, being about the same as Standard Pink. It is also plumper than Early Pink, and bright colored. The vines are intermediate between the two parental varieties, being more vigorous than Early and less exten- sive than Standard Pink. Sutter Pink matures 3 to 7 days later than Early Pink. In 1943, when planted July 14, it was ready to harvest 76 days from planting — just 3 days later than Early Pink. In 1942 it was 7 days later in the June 29 planting, 5 days later in the July 23 planting. Its early matur- ity makes it adaptable to a double-cropping sys- tem. It has consistently outyielded Early Pink and has often approached Standard Pink. It has the same geographical range as Early Pink; and it can be planted up to July 20 and harvested about October 15. In other Pink-growing areas of the state, where the fall weather is not such a hazard, this varie- ty may not become important. But in the Sacra- mento Valley and parts of the San Joaquin Valley it is expected to have an important place where earliness, high yields, and high quality of the seed are in demand. A wartime advantage of this early -maturing bean is that the bean harvest can be completed early in October. Crews, machinery, and trucks are thus released in time for the harvesting of rice and milo maize. TABLE 1 Four-Year Yield Record of Sutter Pink Compared with Early Pink and Standard Pink 1940 1941 1942 a 1943 a Planted July 8 Planted July 22 Planted June 29 Planted July 23 Planted July 14 Variety Matu- rity Pounds per acre Matu- rity Pounds per acre Matu- rity, days Pounds per acre Matu- rity, days Pounds per acre Matu- rity, days Pounds per acre Early Pink .... Standard Pink. . . Sutter Pink. . . . Least significant difference . . . Early Late Medium late 2,260 b 2,620 d 341 Early Late Medium late 1,561 C 1,681° l,770 e 240 85 104 92 2,690 3,093 3,384 413 84 89 85 2,083 2,339 2,223 220 73 90 76 2,180 2,639 2,460 227 Yield for 1942 and 1943 based on 7 plots of each variety. Based on 21 plots. Based on 36 plots. Based on 4 plots. Based on 6 plots. 5m-4, '44(9740) [3] Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of California, Davis Libraries http://archive.org/details/sutterpinkbeans35smit