Quality and yield of snap bean lines locally developed in Kenya

<p>Snap bean varieties with high yields of extra fine and fine yield are preferred to avoid heavy postharvest losses and<br>reduced consumer appeal. The objective of this study was to select snap bean populations and lines developed for<br>multiple disease resistance for high pod quality and yield. Six groups of snap beans populations at different<br>generations and 49 snap bean lines including local checks were evaluated for their yield performance at KARIThika<br>and Mwea for two seasons. Data collected included duration to flowering and maturity, pod length and<br>width, number of pods per plant, marketable pod yield and pod quality (extra fine, fine and bobby). There were<br>significant differences among the genotypes with respect to days to flowering, days to maturity, pod length, pod<br>diameter, marketable pod yield and pod quality. Climbing snap bean took the longest duration to flower and<br>mature compared to bush snap beans. Snap bean populations and lines with higher number of pods per plant, pod<br>length and pod diameter than the local checks were recorded. Climbing lines had a highest pod diameter of 11mm<br>among the snap bean lines. HAB 423 had the highest pod yield of 15.1 t/ha while Star 2053 was the best yielding<br>parent check with pod yield of 11.5 t/ha. Star 2053 had the highest proportion of extra fine pod yield (92.6%) while<br>SB-08-3-2 population had the highest proportion (85.8%) among the populations and lines. Therefore, it is evident<br>that locally develop snap bean varieties with multiple disease resistance and high yields of acceptable quality can<br>be achieved.