Flowering and characteristics of useful traits of some faba bean (Vicia faba L. var. major Harz) cultivars and breeding lines

Helena Łabuda

doi:10.5586/aa.2012.031

Abstract

This study, conducted during the period 2008–2009, related to the growth, flowering, pod set, and yield of faba bean (<em>Vicia faba </em>L. var. <em>major</em>) cultivars and breeding lines. Biometric measurements, made on 20 randomly selected plants, included the following traits: plant height, number of branches per plant, number of inflorescences per plant and number of flowers per inflorescence, number of pods per plant: large pods (marketable), small pods (undeveloped), and pods with disease symptoms. Moreover, the following characters were determined: pod and seed weight per plant in faba bean plants harvested once at processing maturity of fresh green seeds, pod length, width and weight as well as single seed weight. The evaluated cultivars and breeding lines of faba bean were characterized by large variations in the most important commercial traits. The abundance and duration of flowering as well as the number and weight of pods per plant were clearly modified by weather factors during the growth of plants. The new breeding lines R-366/1 and R-384 as well as the cultivars 'Bachus' and 'Jankiel Biały' were characterized by quite stable pod and seed yield per plant. Single harvesting of faba bean pods for green seeds at green maturity stage produced positive results in the case of all cultivars and breeding lines investigated; marketable pods per plant accounted for 75–80% of the total number of pods.

Highlights

Vicia faba L. is one of the more important species of the family Fabaceae grown throughout the world
The large-seeded species Vicia faba L. var. major is most frequently grown in the southern regions of Europe and it is used in human nutrition as fresh green seeds or dry seeds
The experimental material comprised 6 cultivars and 3 breeding lines of faba bean (Vicia faba L. var. major Harz) which had been obtained from the following seed breeding companies: “SPÓJNIA” Hodowla i Nasiennictwo Ogrodnicze Sp. z o.o. in Nochów: ‘Bachus’, ‘Bonus’, ‘Basta’, R-366/1, R-384, R-383; Polska Hodowla i Nasiennictwo Roślin Ogrodniczych IWARZ-PNOS Sp. z o.o.: ‘Jankiel Biały’, ‘Karmazyn’; and POLAN Hodowla i Nasiennictwo Ogrodnicze Gdańsk-Wieniec Sp. z o.o.: ‘Windsor Biały’

Summary

Introduction

Vicia faba L. is one of the more important species of the family Fabaceae grown throughout the world. Dry seeds of all botanical varieties of this species are the main source of protein and an essential component in human nutrition used daily in different regions of the world, among others, in China, Turkey, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Central America. The availability of cultivars with varying commercial traits, including traits such as earliness, plant productivity, suitability for single harvesting, seed colour and size, are important and essential for faba bean green seed production, since this allows for different applications of green seeds, and this topic has been dealt with in the papers of many authors (Łabuda , 1991; Witek and Witek , 1994; Wierzbicka et al 1995; Bartłomiejczak and Matczak , 1997; Wierzbicka , 1998; Kmiecik et al 2000; Łabuda , 2000a; Mnichowska and Pędziński , 2001; Jadczak et al 2005)

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