Building Accelerated Plant Breeding Pipelines: Screening to Evaluate Lima Bean Resistance to Root-Knot Nematode in Diverse Inbred Lines and Segregating Breeding Populations.

Lima beans () are a cornerstone crop of Delaware's processing vegetable industry. Root-knot nematodes (RKNs; spp.) cause galling of root systems, which severely reduces yield.

First report of Rhizoctonia solani AG 4 causing brown bean of lima bean in Delaware.

Lima bean production has been an economically valuable staple in Delaware agriculture for almost a century, with annual revenue approaching 8 million dollars (USDA-NASS, 2019; Evans et al. 2007). From 2019-2021, lima beans displaying symptoms of brown discoloration, referred to as "brown bean" were observed in the green baby lima variety 'Cypress' across multiple commercial and research fields.

Genome assembly of a Mesoamerican derived variety of lima bean: a foundational cultivar in the Mid-Atlantic USA.

Lima bean, Phaseolus lunatus, is closely related to common bean and is high in fiber and protein, with a low glycemic index. Lima bean is widely grown in the state of Delaware, where late summer and early fall weather are conducive to pod production. The same weather conditions also promote diseases such as pod rot and downy mildew, the latter of which has caused previous epidemics.