In-Depth Characterisation of Common Bean Diversity Discloses Its Breeding Potential for Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Legumes’ cultivation contributes services to agro-ecosystems and society, in line with the principles of sustainability. Among pulses, the common bean is one of the most important sources of plant proteins and other important nutrients for humans. Extensive phenotypic and genetic characterisations of unexplored bean germplasm are still needed to unlock its breeding potential. To the purpose, a panel of 192 diverse genotypes, mainly developed starting from European landrace accessions, was characterised for relevant morpho-phenological traits; a partially replicated experimental design was used. For each quantitative trait, Best Linear Unbiased Predictors and broad-sense heritability were estimated. The screened panel revealed a high level of diversity for most of the measured traits, especially for days to flowering and hundred-seed weight. The same material was also characterised by means of double-digest Restriction-site Associated DNA; a high number of SNP markers were successfully produced. The genotyping allowed understanding the fine genetic structure of the panel. Genetic information was also used to study morpho-phenological traits considering different genetic groups existing within the panel. At the same time, genotypes characterised by favourable traits were identified. The availability of such collection with its extensive characterisation, make this material an excellent resource for common bean improvement.

Preserving Biodiversity in Marginal Rural Areas: Assessment of Morphological and Genetic Variability of a Sicilian Common Bean Germplasm Collection

“…Our finding clearly showed the clustering of a larger number of accessions (23%) with the Mesoamerican gene pool than the Andean gene pool (16%), in contrast to those reported for Italian germplasm local/regional collections [9,17,18,48] and other European germplasm [61,62,65]. The absence of seed coat pattern in the accessions included in the Mesoamerican cluster appeared in agreement with a recent report [66]. Nine Sicilian landraces assigned to Mesoamerican gene pool showed a mean 100-seed weight of 43.1 g, while nine landraces assigned to Andean gene pool showed a mean 100-seed weight of 57.5 g. These findings are in agreement with its assignation to Andean gene pool, that generally contains large-seeded types [67].…”

European landrace diversity for common bean biofortification: a genome-wide association study

“…Results of the characterisation were also analysed considering genotype attributions to the Mesoamerican and the Andean genepool by taking advantage of a previous analysis of the genetic structure of this panel 41 , 50 . When the factor ‘genotype origin’ (i.e.…”

“…The used common bean panel of diversity 41 , 50 resulted an excellent experimental material to screen the within-species phenotypic variation of iron, zinc and phytate seed content. The methods used for the phenotyping showed high reproducibility and, at the same time, can be regarded as cost-effective tools for biofortification-oriented breeding programmes.…”

“…Plant material. The bean diversity panel used in this study was already described by Caproni and colleagues 50 . Briefly, a total of 192 highly homozygous common bean genotypes (i.e.…”

“…Plants were sowed in pots (diameter 40 cm), using a soil mixture of clay loam (40%) and potting compost (60%) 68 ; plants were supplied with water throughout the growing cycle using an automatic drip irrigation system. Plants were arranged using a partially replicated randomised design in which five genotypes were replicated five times while two six times, producing a total of 222 samples out of 192 entries 41 , 50 .…”