Combining ability in common bean cultivars under drought stress

This paper aimed at selecting parents to compose a common bean breeding program for drought tolerance. General and specific combining abilities were evaluated under controlled conditions, using drought tolerant parents (BAT 477 and SEA 5), elite cultivars developed at IAC (IAC Alvorada and IAC Carioca Tybata) and their progenies obtained from a complete diallel, including the reciprocals. Sowing was done in soil following a randomized block design with three replications for both experiments, the control with irrigation and the drought stress experiment imposed from pre-flowering stage. Plants remained under drought stress for 30 days. Physiological and morphological traits as well as yield components and grain yield were evaluated, detecting additive and non-additive effects controlling these traits. The parents used in this study had contributed in different proportions in the crosses they participated in. Regarding the drought stress condition in the pre-flowering stage, the parents SEA 5 and IAC Alvorada presented greater positive effects for the general combining ability for the yield and weight of one thousand seeds, whereas the parent SEA 5 also showed a positive effect for the number of seeds per pod, suggesting the increase of these traits in the crosses they participated in. The hybrid combinations SEA 5 x IAC Alvorada showed a positive result for grain yield, related to the higher positive effect for specific combining ability and because they have as parents the cultivars which confer the best positive values for general combining ability.