TITLE:
Common Bean Germplasm Diversity Study for Cold Tolerance in Ethiopia
AUTHORS:
Mulugeta Assefa, Beneberu Shimelis, Somashekhar Punnuri, Raghuveer Sripathi, Wayne Whitehead, Bharat Singh
KEYWORDS:
Cold Tolerance, Germpalsm Conservation, Common Bean, Principal Component Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.5 No.13,
June
6,
2014
ABSTRACT: Limited tolerance
of common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)
to cold temperatures hinders an additional harvest during the small
rainy season crop cycle (February to May) in the Ethiopian highlands
that comprise two-thirds of the country. Therefore, identification of cold
tolerant common bean genotypes is of paramount importance for the region. Field
screening of 99 common bean genotypes originally procured from CIAT
(International Center for Tropical Agriculture) was carried out for nine
different plant traits associated with crop growth and yield at two locations
differing in climates: Dire Dawa-higher daily maximum and minimum temperatures
and absence of near zero chilling temperatures from February to May;
Haramaya-lower daily maximum and minimum temperatures and occasionally near
zero chilling temperatures during this period. The analysis of variance (ANOVA)
showed the existence of significant variation among genotypes for the
parameters measured. Principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out to
assess the variation and correlation among genotypes for the traits and group
them based on their performance at the two locations. The combination of first
three principal components explained more than 50% of the genotypic variations.
Principal component analysis was also able to discriminate the performance of
genotypes between the two locations. It was grouped into at least 17 genotypes
that were specific to Haramaya highland location. The results also revealed
significant variation in performance among the 17 genotypes. These genotypes
are specific to Ethiopian highlands and prominent resources for in-situ conservation of germplasms.