Kate Denning-James writes about her recent trip to Colombia, where she had the opportunity to gain local knowledge, practical experience, and build links between EI and some of our South American collaborators tackling food security.
Beans are an important source of nutrients and protein for communities worldwide. Despite their popularity, very little has been done to breed plants that can withstand the challenges of an increasingly extreme climate.
Combining cutting-edge research from the Earlham Institute with the on-the-ground expertise of growers could be critical in guiding breeding programmes in the future.
Kate Denning-Jones writes about her recent trip to Colombia, where she had the opportunity to gain local knowledge, practical experience, and build links between EI and some of our South American collaborators tackling food security.
My PhD focuses on the genetic diversity found within just over 150 different types of common beans.
I’m interested in understanding this diversity so we might identify useful traits that could be incorporated into future breeding programmes.
Common beans include many staple household foods, such as kidney beans and black beans, which provide vitamins and minerals to populations worldwide and are an important source of protein - especially with the increasing popularity in vegan diets.
Worldwide there are thousands of varieties of common bean but very few of these are commercialised and produced for everyday consumption. However, this large number of varieties contains an important source of genetic diversity.
Once explored, this diversity could be used to protect or improve yields under different climatic conditions, such as higher temperatures and water scarcity.
Climate change is affecting all crop yields worldwide and, therefore, food security. Consequently, it’s essential that we identify ways to develop crops that are more climate resilient.
The Cocora valley, Salento. Image: (©Kate Denning-James)
To understand bean diversity, and how we can use this to improve food security, I needed to go to one of the countries where their consumption and growth are a central part of both diets and agriculture.
In June 2022 I travelled and worked in Cali, Colombia, for three months. The aims of this trip were for me to learn local knowledge about working with common beans in fields and glasshouses, gain practical experience by completing my own glasshouse trial, and to visit Earlham Institute collaborators from the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the Colombian Corporation for Agricultural Research, AGROSAVIA.
The first part of my project is focused on understanding the genetic diversity within the 150 different types of common beans. Many of these crop varieties are grown by small communities, usually on subsistence farms for local markets.
We wanted to gather local knowledge to better understand why growers have selected for certain varieties – exploring the traits they’re most interested in – and then investigate the genetic basis for this.
Secondly, I wanted to investigate how this diversity affects their resilience to drought. Regular and prolonged droughts are a hallmark of climate change, with impacts that vary from water shortages to widespread crop failure and famine.
The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
Bean plants in the glasshouses at CIAT
Hiding amongst the bean plants in the glasshouses
I spent three months at CIAT, on the outskirts of Cali. I took an employee bus to work that collected me at 6:30am each morning, winding its way past vast sugarcane plantations on the hour-long journey.
Within the grounds of CIAT is the new Future Seeds Gene Bank, a remarkable building which houses around 37,000 accessions of beans, as well forage crops and cassava. These include modern varieties but also their relatives, some of which offer lower yields but can have a higher tolerance to stresses such as heat or drought.
The aim of my work is to develop an understanding of the genetic diversity in the panel of common beans, which could then inform future breeding programmes.
I worked closely with the bean group, who helped me plan and execute my drought glasshouse experiment.
I want to apply the practical skills and knowledge from CIAT to run a large-scale drought experiment on the whole panel of common beans.
This will allow me to collect phenotypic data, which I can then link to the genomic data for a genome wide association study, and identify genes linked to drought tolerance.
During my time there, I also helped the cassava group take measurements during their field trial. There’s a real sense of team science and the opportunity to share or learn new things, which we also have at the Earlham Institute.
I also visited collaborators who work for AGROSAVIA in Rionegro, close to Medellin. This project combines AGROSAVIA’s experience of working with beans, the local communities who produce them, and the genome analysis experience from the Earlham Institute.
For example, our work involves common beans from a small town called Liborina in Colombia and the hope is to use these for local sustainable socioeconomic development.
Samples of the common bean varieties Kate is working with. (©Kate Denning-James)
I had the opportunity to explore Cali and Colombia on most weekends. I visited the waterfalls and river in San Cipriano, took salsa classes, tried local food, walked to the three crosses in Cali, and I travelled to Salento, Medellin, and Bogota.
This was made easier by the fact that Colombia has so many public holidays – I had plenty of long weekends to accommodate travel. In Bogota I even found a meal with some of the beans I’m studying!
During my time in Rionegro, the group took me to visit one of the flower farms. Neighbouring Medellin is world-famous for its flower festival.
On the way to the farm, I was picturing the sorts of flower farms we have in the UK – huge fields with monocultures of lavender or poppies. But we arrived at this small house and the ‘farm’ turned out to be their back garden!
Despite being humble, this farm was a colourful explosion of diverse plants and flowers. The owners farmed this to produce beautiful displays, many of which they had won awards for. I was amazed by the diversity in such a small area.
A flower farm in Rionegro, Medellin. (©Kate Denning-James)
We wanted to gather local knowledge to better understand why growers have selected certain varieties – exploring the traits they’re most interested in – and then investigate the genetic basis for this.
After gaining practical experience in the glasshouse at CIAT, I’ve returned to the Earlham Institute to continue analysing the genome sequences of the full diversity panel, as well as planning for future field trials.
I want to apply the practical skills and knowledge from CIAT to run a large-scale drought experiment on the whole panel of common beans. This will allow me to collect phenotypic data, which I can then link to the genomic data for a genome wide association study, and identify genes linked to drought tolerance.
I feel really fortunate to have had this opportunity. The combination of local knowledge, expertise from our collaborators, and a taste of Colombian culture has been an incredible way to begin this project.
Part of the Norwich Research Park Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership, Kate is a second-year PhD student working in Jose De Vega’s group at the Earlham Institute.
She is co-supervised by Anthony Hall and collaborates with Caspar Chater at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.
The Colombian city, Cali. (©Kate Denning-James)
