COMBINED SELECTION IN BEANS FOR CYCLE, PLANT ARCHITECTURE AND GRAIN YIELD

The selection of common bean cultivars for high agronomic performance can be difficulty by genotype x environment interaction. The objectives of this work were to evaluate if common bean cultivars differ for cycle, plant architecture and grain yield in different growing seasons, and to select early, upright and highly grain yield common bean cultivars, by the use of selection index. For this, five experiments were conducted in the randomized blocks design, with three replicates. A total of 26 common bean cultivars were evaluated and the multiplicative index was used to select superior cultivars. A significant cultivar x season interaction for flowering, cycle, insertion of the first pod, insertion of the last pod, number of pods per plant and grain yield was observed. The common bean cultivars have early or semi-early cycle in rainy season and upright plant architecture. The cultivars Macanudo, BRS Campeiro, IAPAR 81, and IPR Juriti presented high grain yield in most growing seasons. The four superior common bean cultivars selected by the multiplicative index were BRS Campeiro, Macanudo, IPR Juriti, and Guapo Brilhante. The cultivars BRS Campeiro, Macanudo, and IPR Juriti presents earliness, upright plant architecture, and high grain yield and will be selected for the breeding program.