EVALUATION OF AGRONOMIC POTENTIAL AND GENETIC PARAMETERS OF COMMON BEAN GENOTYPES IN MOZAMBIQUE

Abstract

The present research aims to evaluate the agronomic potential, and estimate genetic parameters in common bean characteristics. The experiments were conducted in the experimental area of the Agrarian Station of Sussundenga (ASS), of the Institute of Agricultural Research of Mozambique (IIAM)-Zonal Center (CZC), Manica Province-Mozambique in the three agricultural seasons (2015/16, 2016/17, and 2017/18). The experiments were evaluated using a randomized block design with three replications and 115 entries of common bean genotypes. The agronomic characteristics evaluated were: the number of days to flowering (DF), number of days to maturity (DM), number of pods per plant (NP), plant height (PH), and grain yield (GY). Individual and joint analysis of variance was performed genetic parameters were subsequently estimated for
all characteristics. The results showed a significant interaction effect for all characteristics. The highest value of the estimate of the coefficient of genetic variation was observed for GY and NP. High heritability among common bean genotypes was observed. A genotypic correlation was demonstrated for PH, NP, and GY. Finally, it was observed that the genotypes have the potential to compose a breeding program and contribute to increasing grain yield.