'Shiny Crow', a Specialty Black Bean

Shiny Crow combines mid-season maturity, high yield potential, resistance to bean common mosaic , and adaptation to the High Plains.

'Shiny Crow' black bean was recently released by the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station to provide growers and processors a black bean variety adapted to the arid conditions in the High Plains. Shiny Crow has shiny black seed coat luster rather than the traditional opaque seed coat luster found in all other black bean varieties grown in the USA. Shiny Crow combines mid-season maturity, high yield potential, resistance to bean common mosaic caused by bean common mosaic virus, and adaptation to the High Plains. Seed shape is somewhat oval compared to traditional commercial opaque black bean varieties that have round seed. Average seed weight varied from 2064 to 2270 seeds/lb. across many test locations.

Shiny Crow is unique among black varieties because it has less pod-shattering and seed-splitting when grown in Colorado. Traditional opaque black varieties have problems with pod shattering and seed-splitting when grown in Colorado due to our arid climate and low relative humidity (RH) at harvest. This problem is likely related to the fact that most opaque black bean germplasm originates from lowland tropical climates of Central America where RH is high.

Shiny Crow has also been shown to produce an excellent canned product and has been judged superior in overall canning quality when compared to 'UI 911', 'UI 906' and 'Raven', three commercial opaque black bean varieties. We sent small samples of Shiny Crow to canners throughout the US and every participating canner commented positively on the canned product qualities of this new variety. One canner stated that the texture of the canned product of Shiny Crow was "fabulous" compared to traditional opaque blacks.

Shiny Crow has slow uptake of water by the seed which can cause problems in the canning process because unsaturated beans will not cook thoroughly. Slow water uptake could be most problematic for canners that add the water to the bean in the can just prior to cooking. Pre-soaking Shiny Crow for twelve hours prior to canning and cooking should result in a high quality canned product.

Shiny Crow carries the dominant I gene which confers resistance to all pathogroups of bean common mosaic virus. It is susceptible to the white mold pathogen [Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary] and moderately susceptible to rust, caused by Uromyces appendiculatus (Pers.:Pers.) Unger.

Shiny Crow seed should never be mixed with traditional opaque black beans. Mixtures of shiny and opaque beans cause seed lots to lose identity and value. Growers should identify a processor and/or buyer for Shiny Crow before planting because the demand for shiny black beans is limited at this time. Foundation seed is maintained by the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station. Plant variety protection has been filed with the provision that Shiny Crow can only be sold for seed by name as Certified seed. Registered and Certified seed of Shiny Crow can be purchased from Certified seed processors listed in the Colorado Seed Growers Certified Seed Directory, CSGA, Fort Collins, CO (970-491-6202).

Mark Brick
Extension Agronomy Specialist
Professor
Colorado State University