Environment effect on grain quality in early common bean cultivars and lines

The objective of the present study was to assess the technological and nutritional quality of seven early common bean cultivars and nine lines. An experiment in completely randomized blocks was carried out in three locations in the wet 2001/2002 growing season. One hundred gram samples were collected from each material at physical maturity to estimate the grain technological and nutritional characteristics and also the weight of 1000 seeds, shape and degree of seed flattening were assessed by the J and H coefficient, respectively. The joint analysis of variance showed significant genotype and environment effect at 1% probability. The genotype x environment interaction was significant at 1% probability for all the characteristics assessed except for the weight of 1000 seeds and the J coefficient. Cooking time showed positive phenotypic and genotypic correlation with percentage of whole grains after cooking, weight of 1000 seeds and seed shape, indicating the possibility of simultaneous selection among these characteristics. However, the total solids in the sauce correlated negatively with these traits that are desirable in the industrial processes of the common bean.