Agronomical and quality traits of runner bean germplasm and implications for breeding

White runner bean landraces are greatly appreciated in the North highlands of Spain due to their excellent culinary seed quality. Runner bean cultivars are grown like pole beans. Diversity within a runner bean collection of 31 accessions from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) was examined using morphological, agronomical and seed quality traits. Landraces showed significant differences for most of the agronomical and seed quality traits studied except for seeds per pod, water absorption, seed coat tenderness and floury texture. Runner bean landraces showed sufficient variability to select inbred lines for future breeding. Genotype × environment interaction was significant for days to first flowering, days to first dry pod, seeds per pod and seed length. The majority of physical and nutritional seed quality traits studied which are important to determine the commercial value of a variety were not subject to environmental influences. Different selection pressures affecting to the runner bean genetic material could have occurred in several regions of the Iberian Peninsula. Extra-large and high yielding runner bean germplasm was identified and represents a valuable source of genetic diversity that has potential for development of improved cultivars to be chosen for commercialisation. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.