Seed quality parameters that define the visual appearance, water absorption and cooking as well as sensory traits are important determinants of farmer acceptability of common bean varieties. In the present study, 30 genotypes were evaluated for various seed quality traits. Most of the genotypes were kidney shaped (15) followed by cuboidal (11) with plain seed coat (26) and high seed brilliance (21). The highest seed length was recorded for WB-257 and SR-1 (1.65 cm) and the lowest recorded for WB-1314 (1.07 cm). Highest value for seed breadth was recorded for WB- 6 (0.95 cm) followed by WB-216 (0.90) while as lowest seed breadth (0.43 cm) was recorded for WB-1587. 100-seed weight was highest in case of WB-22 (55.28 g) followed by WB-257 (49.69 g) whereas lowest seed weight was recorded for WB-249 (15.59 g) and WB- 114 (18.41 g). Highest water absorption percentage was recorded for WB-249 (136.36%), Arka Anoop (131.82%) and WB-160 (128.57%) whereas the lowest value was recorded for WB-115 (34.22%), WB-1318 (44.67%), WB-22 (45.36%). The coat proportion was lowest in case of WB-160 (4.54%), Arka Anoop (6.45%), WB-1446 (7.89%) and WB- 160 (8.90%) whereas very high coat proportions were recorded in case of WB-6 (27.39%) followed by WB-1318 (26.82%), WB-1282 (25.79%) and WB- 341 (20.00%). Six genotypes were easy to cook (WB-6, WB-160, WB-216, WB-222, WB-257 and WB-112) whereas only one genotype WB-242 was hard to cook. Overall acceptability score based on traits such as colour, texture, taste, flavour etc was highest in case of WB-401 (3.42) followed by WB- 222 (3.37), WB-1318 (3.36) and WB-185 (3.34) whereas low values were recorded for WB-956 (2.22) and WB-160 and WB-249 (2.26). Among the trait correlations a number of significantly desirable correlations of breeding value were observed. Water absorption was negatively correlated with coat proportion (−0.343) but was positively correlated with cooking time score (0.365). Cooking time score was negatively correlated with coat proportion but the correlation was non-significant. Slow cooking beans tend to imbibe less water than fast cooking beans. The phenotypic correlation between cooking time and water absorption was significant (r = - 0.37), to justify use of water absorption as an indirect selection method for cooking time.
common bean, water absorption, cooking quality, sensory evaluation
