Inter-relationship between pod characteristics, nutritional and anti-nutritional factors in French bean

Abstract

French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is one of the most important sources of proteins, carbohydrates, fibres, certain minerals and vitamins, and adds specific nutritional value to human diet.In this study inter-relation between number of pods per plant and pod size (length and width) and nutritional (protein, carotenoids, sugar, lipid, ascorbic acid and chlorophyll) and anti-nutritional (phenol, proline, hydrogen peroxidise and catalase) factors was analysed. The analysis revealed that number of pods per plant had a highly significant positive correlation with reducing and total sugar. Pod length appeared to be the most important trait for enhancing nutritional qualities owing to their highly significant positive correlation with protein, chlorophyll, carotenoids, proline, and non-reducing sugar. Interestingly, no significant correlation was observed between pod width and nutritional qualities such as protein, sugars, chlorophyll, carotenoids, ascorbic acid and lipid. The study suggested that attributes like number of pods per plant and pod length must be taken into consideration for selection of a nutritionally rich French bean genotype.