NAVY BEAN CANNING QUALITY - CORRELATIONS, HERITABILITY ESTIMATES, ANDRANDOMLY AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA MARKERS ASSOCIATED WITH COMPONENT TRAITS

Three populations of navy bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), consisting of recombinant inbred lines, were grown at two locations for 2 years and were used to study canning quality. The traits measured included visua l appeal (VIS), texture (TXT), and washed drained mass (WDM). Genotype mean squares were significant for all three traits across populations , although location and year mean squares were higher. We found a posi tive correlation (r=0.19 to 0.66) between VIS and TXT and a negative c orrelation (r=-0.26 to -0.66) between VIS and WDM and between TXT and WDM (r=-0.53 to 0.83) in all three populations. Heritability estimates were calculated for VIS, TXT, and WDM, and these values were moderate to high (0.48 to 0.78). Random amplified polymorphic DNA markers asso ciated with quantitative trait loci (QTL) for the same canning quality traits were identified and studied in each population, Marker-QTL ass ociations were established using the general linear models procedure w ith significance set at P=0.05. Location and population specificity wa s common among the marker-QTL associations identified. Coefficient of determination (R-2) values for groups of markers used in multiple regr ession analyses ranged from 0.2 to 0.52 for VIS, 0.11 to 0.38 for TXT, and 0.25 to 0.38 for WDM. Markers were identified that were associate d with multiple traits and those associations supported correlations b etween phenotypic traits. MAS would offer no advantage over phenotypic selection for the improvement of negatively associated traits.