Seed Coat Integrity: Seed Characteristics and Micro-structure of Seed Coats Resistant to Mechanical Damage of Common Bean {phaseolus Vulgaris L.)

Common beans {Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are consumed by humans in various fonns of food, mostly processed for baked bean. Therefore, seed coat integrity (high quality wholesome bean) of beans is extremely important. Split beans and cracked seed coats of white beans result in substantial problems in processing. Our first study showed variety differences in response to direct combine harvest (Gillard and Park). The second part of the seed study was carried out during 1999-2004 to determine genetic control of mechanical damage (MD) of navy beans with the F4 and F4:5 RIL of two crosses between resistant and susceptible beans. MD was under quantitative genetic control by multiple minor genes. Heritability of MD estimated by the parent-offspring regression method was 0.55 and 0.65 for the two crosses (Park and Rupert), suggesting that selection for MD tolerance may be moderately effective and breeding is possible. This study aims to investigate a) seed characteristics in relation to MD and b) to examine micro-stiucture of seed coat of RIL by scanning electron microscopy.