Inheritance of the in vitro regeneration ability in beans

Abstract

In bean crop, in vitro regeneration is a difficult process and it has been little used due to the lack of knowledge on genetic control traits, coupled with the fact that this leguminous plant is recalcitrant. The objective of this study was to investigate the genetic inheritance of the in vitro regeneration capacity in bean populations obtained from the parents Xan 159 and Perola. Seeds were brought to the laboratory of tissue culture, where they were evaluated regarding their regeneration potential. After data collection, means and variances were calculated and based on them, the following components were estimated: environmental, genetic and phenotypic, as well as heritability and number of genes. The parent Xan 159 showed the highest mean. The allelic interaction was not addictive. The environmental component presented major contribution to the phenotype of seeds. The value found for broad-sense heritability was intermediate. However, it was possible to conclude that the genetic factor (dominant and additive effects) actually contributes to the expression of the in vitro regenerative capacity of beans. The reciprocal effect was important to this trait. The estimated number of genes detected the influence of at least one nuclear gene of major effect.