Shokoufa, A New High yielding White Bean Cutivar for Cultivation in Temperate and Cold Areas of Iran

White bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important legume food crop in Iran and many other countries. It is grown on 110248 hectares in Iran, mostly in Fars, Lorestan, Markazi, Zanjan and Chahar Mahal-va-Bakhtiari Provinces. Due to its high value in human nutrition and exportation, considering that most grown cultivars of Iran are the runner type beans, with low marketability values and susceptible to viral diseases, development of high yielding cultivars with high marketability value and resistant to diseases was the priorities in breeding of beans. White bean line WA8563-6 was first introduced in Iran through the yield trail nurseries received from CIAT in 1991. In observation nurseries carried out during 1992 and 93 cropping seasons, ten bean populations were evauated for yield and other characteristics, and 60 lines were selected. Preliminary and advanced yield traits carried out for six years (1995-2000) in four locations Khomein, Eghlid, Khorramabad and Zanjan resulted in selection of superior lines including WA8563-6. The average seed yield of this line was 2698 kgha-1 which was higher than that of the check cultivar, Daneshkadeh with average yield of 2541 kgha-1. The new line produced 2485 kgha-1 seed yield in farmers fields which was 35% higher than the yield of the local check cultivar. In greenhouse and field experiments with artificial inoculations, the new line was evaluated as resistant line to BCMV. Based on the high compatibility, high yield and good agronomic characteristics, it was officially registered by Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization in 2009 as a new cultivar Shokoufa, for cultivation in temperate and cold areas of Iran