Diversity Study of Some Common Bean Collection (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) from varied Environments

Abstract

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), popularly known as Green bean, is still underutilized in Nigeria going by its anti-nutritional properties, longer cooking time, and limited germplasms, with no known improved variety. A total of 54 accessions were sourced International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Uganda; International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Nigeria, and from open markets in Jos, Abuja and Abeokuta, all in Nigeria; and evaluated to assess their level of diversity and adaptation to the southwest zone. The study was conducted at Ilora out-station of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T) in 2022. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in two replications. Parameters on which data were collected are agronomic traits and yield, disease and pests damage. Data were subjected to Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. Some accessions like Michigan Red, ADP -65 and TPV -205 performed well showing good sign of adaptability. Eight PCs with Eigen values >1 accounted for 99.86 % of the variations observed. PC1 alone accounted for 66.5 % of the variation with days to 50 % flowering and podding being most important. PC 2 and 3 accounted for 24.5 % and 6.75 % respectively, with pod weight/plot and 100 seed weight as the most significant traits, respectively.  At 1/3 distance of the dendrogram, five major groups were formed.  Group 3 had the largest number of accessions with a lot of sub-groups. The result revealed a broad genetic base in the pool for selection for further improvement.