Heterosis, inbreeding depression and combining ability has been estimated
and studied in a partial diallel analysis in 12 crosses including 8 bean parents,
Phaseolus vulgaris L., and their F2 generations. These materials were evaluated for
number of days to 50% flowering, number of days to dry harvesting, seed index (1000
seed weight), seed yield per plant and protein content. Six crosses showed positive
heterosis for seed yield per plant. Parents in each of these heterotic crosses differed
in growth habits, seed size and geographical origin. Significant differences in all
characters were found among the F1 hybrids and F2 generations except for protein
content. Some F2 generations outperformed the corresponding F1 hybrids. For general
combining ability (GCA), significant differences were obtained in four characters.
Three characters showed significant differences for specific combining ability (SCA).