Registration of ‘AuSable’ navy bean

Abstract

‘AuSable’ (Reg. no. CV-358, PI 705150) navy bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), developed by Michigan State University AgBioResearch was released in 2023 as an early-mid season, disease-resistant, upright, short-vine bean cultivar with excellent dry down. AuSable was developed with the pedigree breeding method to the F₄ generation followed by pure line selection for disease, agronomic, and quality traits. In 6 years of field trials, AuSable yielded 3073 kg ha⁻¹, flowered in 46 days, and matured in 95 days on average. Plants averaged 45 cm in height, with a lodging resistance score of 1.7 and seed size of 22 g 100 seed⁻¹. AuSable combines high yield potential with early midseason maturity in a navy bean seed type. AuSable has outyielded ‘Merlin’ by 17% across 6 years and matured 3 days earlier. It exhibits uniform dry down equivalent to ‘Vigilant’ and is well adapted to the intensively managed, narrow row, direct-harvested production systems where beans are typically grown in Michigan and the Upper Midwest. AuSable possesses resistance to Bean common mosaic virus, is resistant to anthracnose races 7 and 73, has shown moderate tolerance to white mold, and was as tolerant to post emergence damping off caused by Rhizoctonia solani as other navy beans. It is susceptible to common bacterial blight. The seed size of AuSable (22 g 100 seed⁻¹) is most similar to ‘Valiant’ and slightly smaller than ‘Liberty’ (23 g 100 seed⁻¹). Seed of AuSable meets industry standards for packaging and canning quality in the navy bean seed class.