Interação genótipos por ambientes na prospecção de genitores para fins de melhoramento de feijão-comum de grãos especiais

Abstract

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an essential food in the diet of the Brazilian population and holds great socioeconomic importance. Andean-origin beans, known as “specialty beans,” are scarcely produced in Brazil, yet they have high international demand. This market niche has been underexplored, and one of the main reasons is the limited availability of cultivars with this specific grain pattern. Thus, bean breeding programs in the country play a key role in developing new cultivars with traits aimed at meeting this market demand.However, a trait of utmost importance for specialty beans is grain quality, as the commercial acceptance of these beans is strongly associated with attributes such as size, shape, and color. To achieve the goal of recommending new cultivars with these phenotypes, breeding programs must be assertive in guiding crosses. For that, they must be based on precise and accurate information obtained through field evaluations, as well as laboratory characterizations of grain-associated traits. In this context, new methodologies have been developed, with emphasis on the use of computational tools based on digital image analysis, which have shown efficiency, speed, and great potential for application in genetic improvement programs. Aiming to support breeding programs for specialty beans, particularly in the stage of parent selection, two main studies were conducted in this work. The first consisted of the phenotypic characterization of specialty bean lines regarding grain size, shape, and color. The results allowed the identification of potential parents with desirable phenotypes aligned with commercial market standards. The second study aimed to present a multi-trait and multi-environment strategy for the selection of parents and the planning of crosses in bean breeding. This methodological approach enabled the identification of lines with superior productive performance across different growing seasons. In addition to grain yield, lines with high commercial grain quality and upright plant architecture were also highlighted.