Morphological and Agronomic Traits of a Wild Population and an Improved Cultivar of Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Through the process of domestication, bean varieties have beenselected from their wild ancestors for various anthropocentrically-importantcharacteristics. In order to compare some agronomic and morphologicaltraits of a wild population and a modern variety (cv. Bayo Mecentral),the following variables were evaluated: growth habit; numberof nodes on the main stem; number of branches and pods per plant;flower and pod colours; stem length; days to initiation of flowering;days to physiological maturity and duration of flowering. Variationin each trait was recorded, particularly in the wild population.The growth habits of the wild population were very diverse andthere were positive and significant correlations between 13pairs of variables, including the number of nodes on the mainstem, pods per plant, days to flowering and duration of flowering,whereas domesticated beans gave only a few significant correlations.The analysis of principal components indicated that the linearcombination of agronomic and morphological variables, involvingthe first three principal components, accounted for 70% of thetotal variability of the data, and the populations were clearlyseparated as two biological entities by the first principalcomponent. This study confirms that the process of domesticationhas acted to reduce variation in a range of characters. Growth; growth habit; Phaseolus vulgaris ; domestication