Combining ability among six common bean cultivars adapted to the North West Region of Paraná State, Brazil

Eight morpho-agronomic traits have been measured in six common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cultivars and their 15 hybrids aiming to estimate parents potential per se and heterotic effects of hybrid combinations (Gardner and Ebehart's method, 1966). Enough variability has bees detected among the parents for most of the studied characters. Excepting first pod insertion height the results have shown a great deal of complementation for the scored traits. Hybrids LPSPI 93-17 x FT Nobre and LPSPI 93-19 x FT Nobre have revealed the highest chances of selecting for earlier plant emergence and flowering cycle; on the other hand, 'LPSPI 93-17', 'ápore', 'Rudá' and 'Campe o-1' have presented high potentials per se, as well as in hybrid combinations, for grain yielding increases.