Growth parameters
Number of days to 50% flowering
The mean number of days required for 50% flowering significantly differed among the germplasm of french bean (Table 1). The data revealed that lesser mean number of days required to 50% flowering was noticed in Contender (33.13 days) closely followed by Phule Suyash (33.72 days) and Vaishnavi (34.55 days) whereas higher number of days required for 50% flowering was noticed in IC -039081 (45.60 days) followed by Falguni (42.20 days) and Phule Surekha (41.82 days). The variation in days to 50% flowering in french bean germplasm might be due to season or photoperiod and temperature prevailing during growing period. The results of present findings are in close conformity with the results reported by
Pandey et al., (2011) who also noticed variation in 50 % flowering from 37 days (Makwapur) to 47 days (Mandir).
Number of primary and secondary branches per plant
The number of primary branches per plant at 30 and 45 DAS significantly differed among the germplasm of french bean under study (Table 1). Higher number of primary branches per plant was recorded in Arka Suvidha (2.70 and 3.80) followed by Phule Surekha (2.50 and 2.60) at 30 and 45 DAS, respectively. Lesser number of branches per plant was recorded in Contender (1.50) followed by IC-039081 (1.60) and Sevil (1.70) at 30 DAS. At 45 DAS, lesser number of primary branches per plant was recorded in EC-28304 (1.90) followed by Selection-9 (2.00). The plant growth including the number of branches is the result of varieties genetic potential interacting with the environment and farming practices. The variation in number of branches per plant in germplasm of french bean might be due to genetical variation among the germplasm. The results of the present findings are in close conformity with findings reported by
Pandey et al., 2011).
The highest number of secondary branches per plant was recorded in EC-530909 (7.50) which was at par with IC-28008 (6.80) and Phule Surekha (6.60) whereas the least number of branches per plant was observed in EC-500354 (4.20) followed by EC-28304 (4.30) and Contender and Sevil (5.00) at 30 DAS (Table 1). At 45 DAS, the germplasm IC-28008 recorded the highest number of secondary branches per plant (8.60) which was at par with EC-530909 (7.70) and Falguni (7.50) whereas the lowest number of secondary branches per plant was recorded in EC-28304 (5.10) followed by IC-039081(5.20) and Selection-9 (5.50). The variation in number of secondary branches per plant might be because of the genetical difference among the germplasm. The results also showed that, the number of branches per plant in different germplasm of french bean was affected by the growing environment. It was also found that, average number of branches per plant was greater in viney growth habit as compared to bush type beans. Similar findings were also recorded by
Pandey et al., (2011) and
Das et al., (2018).
Plant height at 30, 45 and 60 DAS
It is clearly evident from the data presented in Table 1 that, significant differences were noticed in plant height among the germplasm of french bean under study at 30, 45 and 60 DAS. The maximum plant height was recorded in Phule Surekha (22.90 cm) followed by EC-500377 (20.86 cm) and IC-039081 (20.85 cm) whereas the minimum plant height was noticed in EC-28304 (13.65 cm) followed by Contender (14.80 cm) and Falguni (15.51 cm) at 30 DAS. The germplasm IC-28008 recorded the highest plant height of 78.70 cm and 93.75 cm at 45 and 60 DAS, respectively whereas the least plant height was observed in Vaishnavi (21.93 cm) followed by Arka Suvidha (28.30 cm) and Falguni (29.20 cm) at 45 DAS. The least plant height of 37.20 cm was noticed in Phule Suyash and Contender followed by EC-500377 (39.00 cm) and Vaishnavi (40.40 cm) at 60 DAS. The variation in plant height might be due to genetic differences among the germplasm since they were grown under same environmental conditions. The results of present findings are in agreement with the results reported by
Zeliang et al., (2018) who observed the taller plants in Arka Anoop (46.6 cm) and the shortest in Local cultivar (33.4 cm).
Morphological characters
Growth habit
The data presented in Table 2 indicated that, bushy and viney are types of growth habit observed among the germplasm under study. The bushy growth habit was noticed in Phule Suyash, Contender, Sevil, Arka Suvidha, Arka Komal, EC-500377, Selection-9, Falguni and Vaishnavi and the germplasm such as Phule Surekha, IC-039081, IC-28008, EC-28304, EC-500354 and EC-530909 recorded viney growth habit. Variation in growth habit of french bean germplasm might be due to genetic variation in germplasm. Results of the present findings were in close conformity with results reported by
Pandey et al., (2011) who recorded the two types of french bean types in Western mid hills of Nepal was highly diverse and could be considered as the secondary center of genetic diversity. Solomon (2012) also reported two types of growth habits in haircot bean such as determine type
i.e. bushy and indeterminate type
i.e. viney among the genotypes studied and this result lend support the present finding.
Flower colour
The data revealed that, the different flower colours such as white, light pink and dark pink were noticed among the French bean germplasm under study (Table 2). White colour flowers were noticed in Contender, Sevil, Arka Suvidha, IC-039081, EC-28304, EC-500377, Falguni, Vaishnavi and EC-530909 while light pink colour flower in Phule Suyash, Arka Komal and Selection-9. Dark pink colour flowers were noticed in Phule Surekha, IC-28008 and EC-500354. These results were in close conformity with the previous results reported by
Pandey et al., (2011) in which they reported that, the flower colour was directly related to color of seed and most genotypes with brown or white seeds produced white flowers. The genotypes such as Arka Suvidha, Trishuli and Arka Komal with brown colored seeds produced white colour flower. They also reported that the colour of flowers, pods and seed varied among the genotypes (white, violet and light pink) under study.
Pod shape
The data shown in Table 2 revealed two types of pod shapes in french bean germplasm under study. The germplasm such as Phule Suyash, Contender, IC-039081, EC-500377, Selection-9, Falguni, Vaishnavi and EC-530909 recorded semi-round pod shape while flat pod shape was observed in Phule Surekha, Sevil, Arka Suvidha, Arka Komal, IC-28008, EC-28304, EC-500354. These results were in agreement with the result reported by
Meena et al., (2017) who recorded round, flat and straight pod shape among the genotypes of french bean.
Pandey et al., (2011) noticed that the pod curvature in french bean was straight, slightly curved and curved and reported that the curvature of pods of french bean germplasm varied among genotypes.
Pod colour
Pod colour is the most important character for market acceptance. The pods of french bean germplasm showed different colours such as light green, dark green and pale green (Table 2). Light green colour of pods was noticed in majority of the germplasm such as Phule Suyash, Phule Surekha, Contender, EC-500354, Selection, IC-039081, Sevil and Arka Suvidha. Only one germplasm pale green colour in IC-28008 whereas Arka Komal, EC-28304, EC-50037, Falguni, Vaishnavi and EC -530909 exhibited dark green pod colour. The results of the present findings were in parallel with the results reported
Pandey et al., (2011) who noticed variation in pod colours of among the french bean genotypes and they recorded the pod colours like dark green, normal green, light green or other colours.
Meena et al., (2017) recorded variation in pod colours among the french bean genotypes and they also found that on the basis of colour Falguni, Cosmo, Sevil and IIHR-909 were found to be the best and had dark green colour pods as compared to other genotypes.
Seed colour
The data revealed that the different germplasm produced different coloured seeds such as white, off white, dark brown, mottled brown, gray and pale brown in french bean germplasm under study (Table 2). The germplasm such as Phule Surekha, IC-039081, IC 28008 and EC-500354 produced black coloured seeds, Falguni, Vaishnavi and Sevil recorded white seed colour, off white in Phule Suyash, pale brown in Selection-9, gray in EC-28304, light brown in Contender and Arka Suvidha, mottled brown in EC-50037 and Arka Komal and dark brown in EC-530909. These results are in accordance with the previous results reported by
Pandey et al., (2011) in which they observed that the seed colour was directly related to the colour of flowers. Most genotypes with lilac flowers produced black coloured seeds, genotypes with white flowers produced brown or white seeds and white coloured flowers produced white flowers. Similarly
Stoilova et al., (2005) reported the variability in terms of seed colour in common bean was brown, red, white and red, bicolor and brownish.
Yield and yield attributes
Number of pod clusters per plant
The germplasm EC-28304 recorded significantly higher number of pod clusters per plant (28.60) followed by EC-500354 (28.40), Arka Komal (27.30), Phule Surekha (27.10) and Falguni (22.30) while the lowest number of pod clusters per plant was observed in Selection-9 (12.00) followed by IC-039081 (13.00), Contender (13.60) and Arka Suvidha (13.90) (Table 3). The results of present findings are parallel with the findings of
Arora et al., (2011) who recorded the number of clusters per plant from 5.13 to 11.10. The number of clusters per plant is an important character to be considered to select cluster bean genotype exhibiting high yield indirectly
(Muthuselvi et al., 2018).
Number of pods per plant
The number of pods per plant directly influences the yield of green pods. The highest number of pods per plant was recorded in EC-500354 (162.4) whereas the lowest number of pods per plant was recorded in Contender and Selection-9 (59.4 and 72.0, respectively) (Table 3). Difference in growth characters might be due to genetic variability within genotype itself or due to the environmental effects. The signifacant differences among the genotypes with respect to number of pods per plant were also reported by
Muthuramu et al., (2015) and
Santhi et al., (2015) in genotypes of french bean.
Pod length (cm)
Significantly higher pod length was recorded in Selection-9 (14.29 cm) which was at par with Sevil (14.21 cm) and Falguni (13.43 cm) whereas the lowest pod length was recorded by Phule Surekha (9.21 cm.) closely followed by EC-530909 (10.54 cm) and EC-500377 (10.60 cm) (Table 3).
The pod length in french bean germplasm differed significantly due to variation in genetic makeup of the plant. Similar findings were reported by
Pandey et al., (2011) who noticed that Chinese Long produced the longest (20.27 cm) pods and the shortest pods in Syangja (7.67 cm) and genetic variability of germplasm might be responsible for this variation.
Muthuramu et al., (2015) reported that the significantly higher length of green pod was noticed in Arka Anoop (17 cm) followed by Arka Suvidha (15.32 cm). The results of present findings are in line with the results reported by
Kumar et al., (2014) and
Zealing et al., (2018) in french bean germplasm.
Pod width (cm)
The data on pod width presented in Table 3 showed significant difference among the germplasm of french bean under study. Higher pod width was recorded by Phule Surekha (1.51 cm) while lesser pod width was noticed in Vaishnavi (0.69 cm) followed by Falguni (0.86 cm) and EC-530909 (0.96 cm). The present findings are in close conformity with the results reported by
Sarangi et al., (2010), Kumar et al., (2014), Devi et al., (2015) and
Das et al., (2018) in french bean.
Neupane et al., (2008) reported that, the pod width was influenced by the genotype and they also reported that, the pod width ranged from 10 to 30 mm in different genotypes.
Pandey et al., (2011) observed that pod width among the genotypes differed significantly and the widest pods (33.53 mm) and narrowest pods were recorded in Makwanpur (8.37 mm) for bush bean while in pole type beans, the widest pods in Mandir (9.30 mm) and narrowest pods in Mallika (7.37 mm) were noticed.
Individual pod weight (g)
Higher weight of the individual pod was noticed in EC-500354 (3.85 g) followed by Arka Komal (3.70 g) while lower weight was in EC-530909 (2.44 g) followed by IC-28008 (2.55 g) (Table 3). The variation in individual pod weight might be due to genetic variation among the germplasm of french bean under study.
Getachew et al., (2014) found that individual pod weight was affected by the interaction effects of the factors like variety and time of sowing. Accordingly, variety Melka-5 showed the highest pod weight (6.50 g) and the lowest in Melka-1 (3.60 g) when sown on 2
nd August and 17
th August. The results of present findings were in accordance with the results reported by
Ramana et al., (2010), Kumar et al., (2014) and
Panchbhaya et al., (2017) in french bean.
Number of seeds per pod
The data presented in Table 3 indicated that the highest number of seeds per pod was recorded in EC-500354 (7.60) which was on par with IC-28008 (6.90) and Phule Surekha (6.70) whereas, the lowest number of seeds per pod was recorded in EC-500377 (4.80) and EC-530909 (4.90). The variation in number of seeds per pod might be due to genetic variability in different germplasm. The results of this study collaborate with the findings of
Sarangi et al., (2010) who reported that the number of seeds per pod was the highest in Kentuky Wonder (7.77) whereas the lowest in Contender and Pusa Parvati (5.58). Similar findings were also reported by
Roy (2003) and
Kumar et al., (2014) in French bean.
Days to first harvest
Significant difference was noticed with respect to number of days to first harvest among the germplasm of french bean (Table 3). First picking of pods was done very early in germplasm Contender (41.40 days) followed by Phule Suyash (41.60 days) and Arka Suvidha (45.80 days) whereas harvesting was late in EC-28304 (60.70 days) followed by Falguni (56.50 days) and Vaishnavi (55.40 days). The variation in days to first harvest might be due to genetical differences among the germplasm. These results were parallel with findings reported by
Sarangi et al., (2010) who stated that the days to first harvest varied from 50 days in case of Selection-9 to 59 days in case of variety Kentuky Wonder. Similar observations were also recorded by
Panchbhaiya et al., (2017) while working with genetic analysis of french bean germplasm.
Number of harvests
French bean germplasm differed significantly with respect to number of harvests (Table 3). The highest number of harvests was noticed in Arka Komal, Arka Suvidha, Selection-9, Falguni and EC-28304 (9.00 each) which was at par with, EC -500354, EC-530909 (8.90 each), Phule Suyash, Phule SSurekha, Sevil, Vaishnavi and IC-28008 (8.80 each) whereas, the number of harvests was recorded in Contender (6.80) and EC-50037 (7.80). The variation in number of harvesting might be due to genetical difference among the germplasm under study.
Crop duration
Significant differences were noticed in crop duration among the germplasm of french bean under study (Table 3). The data revealed that, the maximum crop duration was recorded in Phule Surekha (94 days) statistically on par with EC-500354 (93.5 days) whereas minimum crop duration was recorded in Arka Komal (88.5 days) followed by EC-500377 (88.0 days). The variation found in crop duration might be due to genetic variability in different germplasm of french bean. These findings were close in conformity with the results reported by
Dahiya and Malhotra (2002) who reported that reported that, distribution of positive and negative genes in the parents more towards symmetrical number of primary branches, duration of availability of pods and market yield per plant. Pod yield in french bean was enhanced by simultaneous improvement in yield contributing characters, which mostly are under additive gene control by using transgressive segregation.
Yield
The yield differed significantly among the germplasm of french bean under study (Table 3). The highest yield was recorded in germplasm EC-500354 (34.73 t/ha) followed by Arka Komal (24.22 t/ha) and Phule Surekha (21.42 t/ha) while the least yield was recorded in Contender (11.5 t/ha) followed by EC-530909 (12.84 t/ha). The results of present findings are in concurrence with the finding of
Muthuramu et al., (2015) who reported that, the maximum yield of green pods per hectare was recorded in Arka Anoop (18.5 t/ha) followed by Arka Suvidha (18.00 t/ha). Similar results were also reported by
Zeliang et al., (2018) in french bean genotypes at different locations.