ABSTRACT
Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) represents the most important food legume for direct human consumption with an adequate amount of proteins, carbohydrates, fibers, amino acids, micronutrients (Fe & Zn), and vitamins (e.g., B vitamins, folate, and vitamin K). Common bean also have potential disease preventing and health-promoting compounds. All these qualities makes common bean a food of choice for the poor’s in developing countries. Due to climate change the yield of crops is constrained by various biotic and abiotic stresses. Drought, cold, high-salinity, and heat are major abiotic stresses that have reduced the yield of food crops worldwide. In addition to these problems, population explosion has also posed enormous threat to the sustainable agriculture. To address these problems, various strategies have been implemented by scientists across the world. These strategies cover the traditional as well as the modern technologies. Earlier scientists used breeding strategies (conventional and non-conventional) to develop improved varieties but as these strategies are highly influenced by the external environment, required 7–8 generations for development of new variety and due to the multigenic nature of stress tolerance, breeding practices have been limited to a particular area. With the advancement in the science, various new technologies have been invented which made it easier for the scientists to understand the multigenic nature of the stress tolerance that further helped the scientists to developed a number of new and improved varieties. Development of stress adapted common bean cultivars is a strategy to improve food security in bean producing areas under various stresses. Hence, in order to increase common bean production, there is a need to develop improved varieties that can withstand future challenges, such as climate change, sustainability, and food security. Here in this chapter, a brief discussion about the strategies (breeding and biotechnology) used for the improvement of common bean is given.
