Adaptation study of Haricot bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) varieties in moisture stress areas of Abergelle, Northern Ethiopia

The haricot bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), locally known as ‘Boleqe’ also known as a dry bean, common bean and kidney bean is an important source of protein, calories and cash for smallholder farmers of Ethiopia. The national and regional research institutions in the country have released many varieties for commercial production. However, these improved varieties have not been tested for their adaptability potential under the Abergelle condition. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted during the 2013 and 2014 main cropping seasons using a randomized complete block design with three replications. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the performance and select the best and well-adapted haricot bean varieties. The data of 12 different agronomic traits subjected to combined analysis of variance revealed significant (p≤0.05) differences among the common bean varieties for most of the characters (days to 50% emergence, flowering, seed filling period and 90% physiological maturity, pod length, plant height, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, seed yield, biomass yield, harvest index and thousand seed weight) studied. In conclusion, the present study entails the presence of significant variations among common bean varieties. Awash melka had better performance than the other varieties for yield (1.9 t ha-1) and yield related traits. Therefore, it is recommended as a promising variety to increase the source of cash crops for farmers in the study area and foreign currency as the export crop of the country, Ethiopia.