“ZARGANA KAVALAS”: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH OF UPGRADING THE TRADITIONAL CULTIVAR OF SNAP BEAN

In aiming to upgrade the traditional snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cultivar Zargana Kavalas for earliness, yield and quality, we applied a long-term pedigree intra-cultivar selection program, based on plants grown in a widely spaced single-pattern honeycomb design.
The program was applied under greenhouse and field conditions.
Firstly, we examined the existing genetic variability in the cultivar.
Secondly, we applied two pedigree selection procedures in both environments.
The coefficient of variability (CV) of early pod yield decreased from 61.31-81.33 to 39.43-42.51%, while the CV of total pod yield was stabilized at 28%. The average genetic gain was 2.43-3.15 and 0.13-0.42 pods plant^-1 generation^-1 for earliness and yield, respectively.
Thirdly, we confirmed our results with evaluation tests.
The yield of the progenies participated 85% compared with 15% of the source cultivar, while fresh pod descriptive and qualitative traits corresponded to the normal ones of the cultivar.
Short-seed progenies were excluded from selection procedure.
Conclusively, the widely spaced single-plant honeycomb pedigree intra-selection was proved reliable and effective in upgrading the cultivar according to up-date demands.

II Balkan Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes

E. Traka-Mavrona, D. Georgakis, M. Koutsika-Sotiriou

pedigree honeycomb selection, snap bean, stability of performance

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2002.579.7