Flowering and characteristics of useful traits of some faba bean (Vicia faba L. var. major Harz) cultivars and breeding lines

This study, conducted during the period 2008–2009, related to the growth, flowering, pod set, and yield of faba bean (Vicia faba L. var. major) cultivars and breeding lines. Biometric measurements, made on 20 randomly selected plants, included the following traits: plant height, number of branches per plant, number of inflorescences per plant and number of flowers per inflorescence, number of pods per plant: large pods (marketable), small pods (undeveloped), and pods with disease symptoms. Moreover, the following characters were determined: pod and seed weight per plant in faba bean plants harvested once at processing maturity of fresh green seeds, pod length, width and weight as well as single seed weight. The evaluated cultivars and breeding lines of faba bean were characterized by large variations in the most important commercial traits. The abundance and duration of flowering as well as the number and weight of pods per plant were clearly modified by weather factors during the growth of plants. The new breeding lines R-366/1 and R-384 as well as the cultivars 'Bachus' and 'Jankiel Bia y' were characterized by quite stable pod and seed yield per plant. Single harvesting of faba bean pods for green seeds at green maturity stage produced positive results in the case of all cultivars and breeding lines investigated; marketable pods per plant accounted for 75–80% of the total number of pods.