Genetic variability and factor analysis in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) germplasm collection for yield related traits

Abstract

The present study was undertaken in Kharif 2011 and 2012 at Research Farm of Regional Research station of SKUAST-K at Wadura. The divergence of beans collection comprising 300 genotypes including 297 test germplasm accessions and three checks namely Shalimar Rajmash-1, Contender and Selection-3 was studied using factor analysis. We considered eight quantitative traits related to seed yield namely days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height, number of pods/plant, pod length, seeds/pod, 100-seed weight and seed yield/plant. Analysis of variance revealed that there were significant differences between checks and accessions, between accessions and between checks for all the traits. It indicated presence of substantial amount of variation among the test entries. The factor analysis was based on Pearson correlation matrix and Euclidean distances. Total variance explained with the four PC's was more than 70%. Latent roots (Eigen values) are between 2.318 for the first and 0.112 for the eight. The first component explained 28.976 % of total variation, the second component explained 16.989 %, while as the third and fourth component explained 14.751 and 12.972 % respectively. Days to flowering and days to maturity were the important traits in the first two principal components. 100-seed weight was the important trait in third principal component while the pod length and seeds per pod were important traits in fourth principal component. Combined use of the three seven PC (principal components) could yield a successful selection of genotypes suitable for donors of one or more important traits in breeding.