Morphological variability and phylogenetic analysis in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Thirteen common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) accessions collected from different ecological regions of Jammu and Kashmir were evaluated at four diverse locations during kharif 2009. Significant variation was observed for most of the morphological traits. Estimates of heritability (bs) were high (>60 %) for all the traits except pod length. The expected genetic gain (per cent of mean) was high (>30 %) for days to maturity, number of pods plant(-1), number of seeds pod(-1), 100-seed weight and seed yield plant(-1) while it was moderate (10.0-30.0%) for days to 50 per cent flowering, number of branches plant(-1) pod length and protein content. Seed yield plant(-1) was observed to have a highly positive and significant correlation both at phenotypic and genotypic levels with number of pods plant(-1), pod length, number of seeds pod(-1) land 100-seed weight. But negative and significant correlations with days to 50 per cent flowering and days to maturity were estimated from pooled analysis. Classification of accessions led to the formation of two clusters wherein the maximum number 7 accessions were grouped in cluster I and the remaining six were grouped in cluster II. Analysis of traits contributing maximum to the divergence revealed that traits viz., 100-seed weight (37.10%), protein content (15.26%), number of seeds pod(-1 )(11.28%) and days to maturity (10.14%) to contribute to the divergence in the present experimental material.