Genetic diversity of French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) genotypes on the basis of morphological traits and molecular markers

Knowledge of genetic diversity is important for selection of parents in the crop improvement programmes. In total 29 geographically diverse French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) genotypes, especially vegetable types, collected from different agro-climatic zones of India were grown under complete randomized block design with three replications for measuring the extent of genetic diversity. Observations were recorded on 12 agronomic traits for the characterization of genotypes and deciphering morphological diversity among the collected genotypes. Further, 25 polymorphic RAPD primers were used for deducing the diversity at DNA level. The French bean genotypes produced 186 PCR fragments, of which 94 were polymorphic with an average of 3.76 polymorphic fragments per primer. Each RAPD primer amplified 5-11 fragments of varying size (190-2780 bp). The level of polymorphism with different primers ranged between 25-85.7%. The genotypes VRFBB-2 and Arka Komal were found most diverse among the selected genotypes on the basis of molecular markers, and these two genotypes also exhibited morphological superiority for some of the agronomic traits over other genotypes. Thus, the present study indicates that RAPD markers can be a useful tool for the assessment of genetic diversity among French bean genotypes, which will aid its further utilization in the future crop improvement programmes.