Study concerning the main characteristics of climbing bean seeds belonging VRDS, Romania germplasm collection

Since 2010 at the Vegetable Research and Development Station (VRDS) Buzău a program was initiated in order to preserve and valorize local bean population (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) from eastern and southeastern Romania. In 2014 the germplasm collection contained over 150 accessions. This paper presents the comparative study of the main characteristics of 40 climbing bean seed (weight, length, width, thickness, colour and secondary colour distribution). Regarding V₆, the highest values of seed weight (0.84 g) and width (10.83 mm) were registered. Seed length varied between 18.05 (V₇) and 10.74 mm (V₃₆). For V₃₆ the lowest seed weight (0.3 g) was registered. The highest value concerning the width/thickness proportion was 1.92 (V₇). More than half of the studied seeds presented two or more colours dispensed around hilum, on half of grain, in streaks or patches. These results show a great variability in the biological material collected and also justify the works concerning the biodiversity preservation for this species.