Genetic effects of the calcium content in common bean

The objective of this research was to investigate the existence of maternal effect in calcium content of common bean grains and to estimate heritability and gene effect by selection in early generations. The controlled crossings were performed among the cultivars 'Perola' x 'TPS Bonito' and 'TPS Bonito' x 'BRS Expedito'. The F-1, F-1 reciprocal, F-2, F-2 reciprocal, F-3, F-3 reciprocal, backcross 1 and backcross 2 generations were obtained for each hybrid combination. The calcium content was ascertained by nitric-perchloric digestion and determination on the atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Genetic variability in grain calcium content was revealed in two crosses with higher influence of the additive genetic effect, beyond expression of maternal effect. Estimates of heritability in the broad sense were of 66.75% and 74.65% and in the narrow sense of 47.00% and 63.61%, in the crosses 'Perola' x 'TPS Bonito' and 'TPS Bonito' x 'BRS Expedito', respectively. The selection performed in the early generation may be effective for development of common bean germplasm with higher calcium content.