Genetic diversity among Brazilian carioca common bean cultivars for nitrogen use efficiency

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the genetic diversity among Brazilian carioca common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cultivars for traits related to nitrogen use efficiency (NUsE). An additional objective was to identify potential parents and promising parental combinations to assist common bean breeding programs in the development of cultivars with improved NUsE. The experiments were carried out at the Experimental Stations of the Instituto de Desenvolvimento Rural do Paraná (IDR-Paraná) in Londrina and Ponta Grossa, Brazil, during the rainy season in 2017. Thirty-nine common bean cultivars were evaluated under high (40 kg N ha −1 ) and low N (0 kg N ha −1 ) applied as top-dressing. The cultivars were genotyped using the genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) approach with restriction enzyme CviAII. A total of 23,823 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were identified throughout the common bean genome. A wide genetic variability was observed for NUsErelated traits under high and low N conditions. In addition, correlations were found between shoot dry biomass and NUsE, N uptake efficiency (NUpE), and N utilization efficiency (NUtE) under low N, indicating the possibility of indirect selection of these traits by the plant shoot dry biomass. Interestingly, the most low-N-tolerant cultivars were not necessarily the most responsive and/or NUsE, suggesting that different morphophysiological mechanisms control these traits. The cultivars that stood out positively in this study can be used as parents in breeding programs aimed at developing cultivars that are adapted to N limitation.

Multivariate analyses reveal key traits in the identification of nitrogen‐use‐efficient cultivars of common beans

“…Phenotypic correlations of SB and NUsE have already been reported in common bean (Zeffa, Moda‐Cirino, Delfini, et al., 2021) and other crops (Cormier et al., 2016; Stahl et al., 2017), although they do not show a cause–effect relationship. Lemaire and Ciampitti (2020) demonstrated the relationship between N uptake and plant growth rate, indicating a strong relationship between NUsE and SB in several crops.…”

“…The main abiotic factors limiting bean growth and productivity are drought (Androcioli et al., 2020; Arruda et al., 2019), high temperatures (Chavez‐Arias et al., 2018), aluminum toxicity (Santos Neto et al., 2020), and soils with low phosphorus (Tembo et al., 2019) and nitrogen (N) contents (Zeffa et al., 2020; Zeffa, Moda‐Cirino, Delfini, et al., 2021; Zeffa, Moda‐Cirino, Nogueira, et al., 2021). Although beans can fix atmospheric‐N (N 2 ) in symbiosis with bacteria of the genus Rhizobium , the fixation is less efficient than that of other legumes (Appelbaum, 2018).…”

Genetic variability and nitrogen response indices in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) cultivars under contrasting nitrogen environments

“…Although common bean plants can fix atmospheric N (N 2 ) due to symbiotic interactions with bacteria of the genus Rhizobium (Hungria et al., 2003; Korir et al., 2017), fixation efficiency is generally low compared with other legumes, and N fertilization is recommended to meet the nutritional requirements of the plant (Appelbaum, 2018). Thus, several studies have highlighted the positive effects of N in increasing common bean plant productivity (Chekanai et al., 2018; Fernández‐Luqueño et al., 2010; Soares et al., 2016; Zeffa et al., 2021).…”