Molecular diversity and nutriment studies of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) from the two hot-spots of Western Himalayas of Jammu and Kashmir

The diverse microclimatic belts of the Western Himalayan region of India are considered hot spots for genetic diversity of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Western Himalayan beans are known for various agronomically superior/important traits including unique aroma, taste and cooking quality. In the present study, 25 unlinked genomic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers distributed across the common bean genome were used to assess the genetic/allelic diversity among and within populations belonging to the Jammu and Kashmir regions of the Western Himalayas. These two regions are considered most important hot-spots for common bean diversity in western-Himalayas. The analysis of genotypic data of SSR markers revealed a total of 263 alleles with an average of 10.52 alleles per locus. The genetic diversity analysis revealed higher variability in bean landraces belonging to Jammu region (He = 0.73) as compared to genotypes from Kashmir region (He = 0.647) and some exotic genotypes (0.71). The genotypes were also phenotyped for four important nutritional traits and the analysis of trait data revealed that sugar content was highest in common bean genotypes from Jammu region, while protein, starch and phenol content were highest in exotic common bean genotypes. Therefore, the superiority of common bean germplasm from Jammu region may be due to a higher level of allelic diversity, more private alleles and higher sugar content. The diverse genotypes based on genotypic data and trait performance will prove useful in future breeding programs aimed at enhancing nutritional contents of common bean varieties.