Characterization, Genetic Diversity, and Clustering of Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) ‎Accessions Based on Seed Yield and Related Traits ‎

(Received 27/06/2019, accepted 18/08/2019) DOI, 10.21608/ejoh.2019.14116.1110 ©2019National Information and Documentation Centre (NIDOC) TWENTY-SEVEN accessions of common bean were evaluated for their performance and genetic diversity based on 11 seed yield and related traits,with the aim to identify diverse accessions with greater performance to exploit the heterotic potential in hybrid combinations between them, with the possibility to obtain superior segregants in subsequent generations. The study was carried out at El-Dalgamon village, Kafr El-Zayyat, El-Gharbiya Governorate, Egypt, during the two successive summer seasons of 2016 and 2017.The accessions were arranged in a complete block design with three replications. The Tocher optimization method and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA), were used for clustering based on Mahalanobis D2 statistic as a dissimilarity measure. The results indicated a wide genetic variability for all traits. The accessions were grouped into five clusters by Tocher’s method.Cluster I was the largest, comprised 22 accessions, cluster II, which included the accessions NGB17827 and NGB17823, had the maximum inter-cluster distances with the other clusters, while each of the remaining three clusters contained only one accession. There was an agreement between UPGMA hierarchical clustering and Tocher optimization method.To obtain superior recombinants in segregating generations, we suggest investigating the crossing combinations of Giza 6 with, NGB17817, either of NGB17823 or NGB17827, and the desired accessions from cluster I, such as NGB17806, NGB17814, NGB17816, and NGB18054. Plant height, number of pods per plant, pod length, and seed yield per plant,were the most important traits for the genetic diversity.