Abstract:
Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) is one of the crops produced by thousands of farmers in
Bale. This study was conducted to assess the genetic variability and estimate the association
of morpho-agronomic and seed quality traits among small seeded common bean genotypes.
Sixty-four common bean genotypes were evaluated in 8 x 8 simple lattice designs at Goro and
Ginnir in 2021. Results from analysis of variance for each location and over locations
revealed the presence of significant differences among genotypes for 15 morpho-agronomic
and seed quality traits. Number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, hundred seeds
weight, grain yield, protein and grain mineral contents were significantly influenced by
genotype x location interaction. The genotypes had average grain yield of 1675, 1479 and
1568 kg ha-1 at Goro, Ginnir and over locations, respectively. Moreover nine genotypes had
significantly higher mean grain yield in the range between 10.42 and 21.8% than average
yield of SER119 the best yielding check variety which is an indication of the higher chance to
develop better varieties. The protein, Fe and Zn contents ranged from 14.45 to 27%, 4.5 to
13.3 and 2.38 to 18.48 mg 100g-1, respectively. Phenotypic (PCV) and genotypic (GCV)
coefficient of variations ranged from 1.29 to 52.66% and 1.01 to 21.28%, respectively.
Heritability (H2
) in broad sense and genetic advance as percent of mean (GAM) ranged from
7.09 to 99.58% and 1.62 to 39.45%, respectively. Grain yield had positive and significant
correlations with number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, number of
pods per plant, number of seeds per pod and number of seeds per plant at genotypic and
phenotypic levels at two locations. These traits except number of seeds per plant had positive
direct effects on yield at genotypic level. Days to flowering had negative and significant
genotypic and phenotypic correlations with grain yield and the trait also exerted negative
direct effect on grain yield at genotypic and phenotypic levels at both locations. The first six
principal component axes (PCA) with Eigen values >1 accounted for 83.67% variation of
genotypes. The genetic distance of genotypes estimated using Euclidean distance ranged from
1.48 to 11.96 with 5.57, 1.73 and 31.0%, of mean genetic distance, standard deviation and
coefficient of variation, respectively. The genotypes were grouped into eight distinct clusters
of which Cluster I, III and three clusters (IV, VII and VIII) consisted of 40(62.5%), 15(23.4)
and 2(3.1%) genotypes, respectively, while cluster II, V and VI consisted of 1(1.6%)
genotypes. Generally, the result of this research showed the presence of variations among
common bean genotypes for yield, seed qualities and other agronomic traits that could be
potentially exploited in future breeding programs.
