Characterization and diversity analysis in french bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Germplasm

French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the most important vegetable crop in Kashmir valley. The present study was undertaken to characterize French bean germplasm for morphological and various yield parameters. Forty four germplasm lines sourced from local hotspots of diversity, NBPGR and international gene banks including four checks were evaluated in an augmented design for morphological, maturity and pod yield parameters. In terms of maturity, KDFB-81 was earliest to mature, while WB-333 and WB-435 were late maturing. Plant height ranged from 38.07 cm to 173.00 cm. Pod length, number of pods per plant, seeds per pod, pod yield per plant, pod wall biomass and pod growth rate ranged between 7.367 - 14.500 cm, 4.8 - 40.30, 3.77 - 7.400, 15.2 - 112.5 g, 0.430 -0.810 and 0.524 - 6.150, respectively. The analysis of variance revealed that the block effect was non-significant for all the traits except days to maturity, days to pod fill, pod growth rate and pods per plant, whereas mean squares due to test entry, checks and test v/s check were significant for most of the traits. Among yield traits, WB-371 had highest pods per plant, WB-1607 had highest seeds per pod, WB-956 had highest 100-seed weight and WB-1129 had highest pod yield per plant. All the 44 accessions were grouped into three major clusters CI, CII and CIII with cluster CII having three sub cluster (CII1, CII2, and CII3), with each cluster having different number of accessions. The number of accessions falling in each cluster was highest (18) in cluster CI, followed by CIII (15), CII1 (8), CII3 (2) and CII2 (1). Genotypes with desirable pod and seed traits were identified and can be used for breeding high yielding French bean genotypes.