Screening of pole type French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) genotypes for high yield potential under mid-hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh

French bean is a profitable crop that is grown as a fresh vegetable throughout summer and rainy seasons and fetches off-season prices during the spring and autumn in Himachal Pradesh. Twenty nine pole type genotypes of French bean were screened to select a suitable one which could provide optimum yield of fresh pod and dry seed yield. The study showed that LCPB-1 resulted in highest number of pods per plant (42.33), seed yield per plant (100.76 g) and 100-seed weight (49.15 g) as compared to all other genotypes tested. This genotype also resulted in minimum days to 50 per cent flowering and days to 1^st picking, highest plant height and pod yield per plant along with some other genotypes. Based on phenotypic and agronomic performance, the genotype LCPB-1 could be taken under multi-location testing programme for assessing its suitability and adaptability.