Phaseolus vulgaris L., known in Spain as “judía o alubia”, is a traditional crop of great socioeconomic importance. This species, of American origin, has been adapted to different uses and climatic and edaphic conditions in the Iberian Peninsula, that is considered a secondary diversification area. Bean is one of the most genetically diverse species grown by the farmers. A great number of landraces are mainly used for self-consumption or for selling in nearby markets. Some of them, with exceptional sensorial qualities, are protected by quality labels as “Protected Geographical Indications” or “Protected Designation of Origin ”. Different national and international teams work with this species in studies that include basic research, plant breeding, characterization and evaluation activities, or local ecotypes recovery.
CRF has the task of maintaining the grain legumes national active collection that includes the common bean collection with more than 5000 accessions. To make easier the use of these materials, it has been proposed a collection representative of the total genetic diversity (core collection). This activity has been developed by different projects funded under “INIA´s Plant Genetic Resources Activities” call, in which various research teams, apart from CRF, have cooperated, like those one of SERIDA (Asturias), Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña (Barcelona), Misión Biológica de Galicia-CSIC (Pontevedra), Universidad de León, Instituto de Tecnología Agroalimentaria de Castilla y León (ITACyL, Valladolid), Instituto Vasco de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario (Neiker-Tecnalia, Álava), and Instituto Madrileño de Investigación y Desarrollo Rural, Agrario y Alimentario (IMIDRA).