Organization is Key

6/20/11

Today I started work in the “bean lab.” However, we were not inside the air-conditioned laboratory today. No, we were outside, all day, harvesting beans.

The work of the bean lab centers on breeding and genetics. In the field, there is selection for phenotype, or physical appearance, and in the lab, there is selection for genotype, or genetic makeup. Some key agronomic traits include resistance to bacterial blight and to root rot. The former is, as you probably guessed, a bacterial disease. It can be transmitted through seed. The latter is a fungal disease, which, unlike many other fungal disease, does better under drought conditions.

We went to the Isabela station today to harvest beans. We here refers to three technicians, another student, and myself. I don’t know Spanish (though I can kind of pick up on key words and usually can figure out the general gist of the conversation). They are not fluent in English. The lab head is fluent in both languages, but he didn’t come with us today. I was nervous, but everyone is just so nice, as I’ve said several times already, so things went well.

The plot in Isabela has been used for beans for about 40 years now. It has never been fertilized. It was inoculated with the fungus responsible for root rot. On this plot, pretty much all the agricultural “shouldn’ts” are practiced, making for the terrible growing conditions. A variety that produces high yields in this plot must have something going for it!

On the way to Isabela, one of the technicians picked up a carrot cake in Aguada and shared it with us. Delicious. Great way to start the day. Counts as a serving of vegetables, right?

Then we harvested. We pulled the bean plants out and ran them through the thresher, making sure to keep the rows separate and leaving one buffer plant at each end of the row. When I worked at the thresher, I had to wear ear plugs, headphones, and a mask to protect my nose and mouth. It was a loud, somewhat frightening machine. Then again, a lot of big machines scare me. Remind me why I am majoring in agricultural science please?

Oh yea, I know why.

So, as I was sitting at the thresher, collecting the beans as they came out the bottom, I was amazed by the diversity of sizes and colors and the range of yields. Some varieties produced enough beans to fill the bag, others produced practically nothing. Some beans were purple, some were red, some were white with speckles. So pretty.

We wrapped up when the thunder started. We weren’t done though; there are still more beans to harvest. I spoke with the head researcher briefly after work and borrowed some books on plant breeding and bean diseases. I’m excited.

I enjoyed a walk in the rain. Yes, I did sing in the rain. However, I didn’t wear yellow rubber boots and carry an umbrella. Rather, I put on my bathing suit. Try it one day.

6/21/11

Beans. Lots and lots of beans. We counted out beans to send to researchers in other regions so they could grow and evaluate them. One project is focused on developing heat-resistant, drought-tolerant varieties. These plants are grown in Puerto Rico in the winter, when it is still hot but much drier, and in the states in the summer.

I was once again reminded of the importance of organization. The beans are stored in numbered paper lunch bags, which are in turn stored in boxes. The bags are in no particular order in these boxes. We were charged with finding the bags for selected numbers. We tried our best to organize as we went along.