Evaluation of Promising Genotypes of French Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Suitable for India

French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) is an important leguminous vegetable grown throughout the world. Both green fleshy pods and dry seeds are used for consumption purpose. Being a meat of the poor, the crop is widely grown in India. In spite of having lot of importance, this crop suffers from poor yield resulting from very old and local varieties being grown by the farmers in North Eastern Region. It was the need of the hours to introduce some high yielding, stress tolerant varieties newly developed elsewhere. In view of this an investigation was undertaken at the Department of Horticulture, AAU, Jorhat on eighteen (18) french bean genotypes received from All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable crops. The research work involved conduct of 3 station trials, 3 state zonal trials in Assam, multilocation trials throughout the country. The trials were conducted following Randomized Block Design with three replications. The data were collected on yield and its attributes. Field observations were also made on incidence of rust and bacterial blight. In station and zonal trials, among all genotypes, Arka Anup and Arka Subidha were found to be better for green pod yield ranging from 95 – 110 q/ha. The multilocation trials conducted in different national centres exhibited average pod yield of 149.1 q/ha in Arka Anup and 141.9 q/ha in Arka Subidha. On an average there was 20 – 25% yield increase over the best check variety ‘Contender’. Arka Anup was a flat poded variety whereas Arka Subidha was a round poded variety. The edible green pods were getting ready for picking at 60 - 70 days after sowing. Field observation on incidence of diseases indicated resistance reaction to rust and bacterial blight in both these varieties. In the national level also they have been found better and hence released and notified by the Central Seed Sub Committee for different states of the country covering North, Central and South India. Considering yield performance and other desirable characteristics, extensive cultivation of these varieties may be done in Assam and better performing states also.