Date Received: 11-07-2013 / Date Accepted: 07-05-2014
The agronomical characteristics and heat tolerance of twenty nine common bean accessions from USA were evaluated in two seasons: late spring and winter seasons in 2012 in Gialam, Hanoi. Most of the accessions showed short growth (55 to 80 days) suitable to cropping pattern of the Red RiverDdelta. There was a large variation in agronomical characteristics, such as plant height, number of leaves and branches, stem and flower color, fruit shape and grain size. The twining bean accessions had plant height from 180.5 to 306.0 cm while bush type accessions were three to five times shorter. Four accessions viz.CV44, CV54, CV59 and CV79 were heat torelant. Genetic similarity based on morphological characteristics and agronomic performance classified accessions into four separate groups with similarity coefficient of 0.18. Some accessions such as CV56 (107.52g), CV65 (145.91g), CV67 (116.28g), CV73 (191.35g), CV83 (117.28g), CV85 (117.77g) in green bean group and CV76 (52.0g) and CV77 (54.89g) in dry bean group had high yield in the winter season only. These accessions are potentialy useful for breeding programme with high yield.