Navy bean canning quality: correlations, heritability estimates, and randomly 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 visual 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 positive correlation (r = 0.19 to 0.66) between VIS and TXT and a negative correlation (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 associated with quantitative trait loci (QTL) for the same canning quality traits were identified and studied in each population. Marker-QTL associations were established using the general linear models procedure with significance set at P = 0.05. Location and population specificity was common among the marker-QTL associations identified. Coefficient of determination (R2) values for groups of markers used in multiple regression 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 associated with multiple traits and those associations supported correlations between phenotypic traits. MAS would offer no advantage over phenotypic selection for the improvement of negatively associated traits