Diversity of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) germplasm from Portugal

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a traditional crop in Portugal, where farmers grow varieties selected and maintained by themselves. A collection of 88 landraces of common bean was evaluated for 17 quantitative and qualitative traits and the biochemical marker phaseolin to display the degree of variation of this germplasm. Agronomic data were subjected to cluster analysis and several groups were identified, with three groups clustering most of the landraces. Regarding phaseolin variation the C and T banding patterns are the most frequent ones, so the origin of the Portuguese beans is thus probably the Andean region of South America. These results give information about the origin, diversity and breeding value of the Portuguese germplasm, that could be useful to widen the genetic base of currently cultivated bean varieties in Europe.