Common bean scientifically known as Phaseolus vulgaris, is an herbaceous annual plant and now grown worldwide for its edible bean, popular both dry and as a green bean. The leaf is occasionally used as a leaf vegetable, and the straw is used for fodder. Botanically, the common bean is classified as a dicotyledon. Beans are a legume and thus acquire their nitrogen through an association with rhizobia, a species of nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
Common bean is a species widely cultivated due to its good nutritional composition with high protein content in dry seed and a good source of fiber in snap bean and its high market value. Consumers have progressively shown specific preferences for various combinations of size and shape of bean seeds and pods, and the market reflects this trend by giving preference to types of good quality rather than high yield.
Plant cross-breeding uses deliberate interbreeding of closely or distantly related individuals to produce new crop varieties or lines with desirable properties. Plants are crossbred to introduce traits or genes from one variety or line into a new genetic background. Progeny from the cross would then be crossed with the high-yielding parent to ensure that the progeny were most like the high-yielding parent, (backcrossing). Plants may also be crossed with themselves to produce inbred varieties for breeding.
Plant cross-breeding relies largely on homologous recombination between chromosomes to generate genetic diversity. Plant cross-breeding is being done to come up with varieties of plants that have: (a) increased quality and yield of the crop; (b) increased tolerance of environmental pressures (salinity, extreme temperature, drought); (c) resistance to viruses, fungi and bacteria; (d) increased tolerance to insect pests; and (e) increased tolerance of herbicides.
The increasing concern on agricultural sustainability favors the maintenance of plant cross-breeding systems which give efficient soil conservation due to the increased ground cover that it provides, and a more stable agricultural production than sole crop, for small farms, where capital is limited and labor is available.
This study seeks to distinguish the characteristics of the pure breed and cross breed common bean using the varieties of beans – the string beans and painted pony beans as grown in backyard gardening by the Bachelor of Secondary Education – Biological Science major third year students of Ramon Magsaysay Technological University – San Marcelino Campus.
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