The Qualitative Differences for Photosynthetic Content of Common Bean (<i>Phaseolus vulgaris</i> L.) Populations  in Kosovo

Genetic diversity analysis of common bean populations is useful for breeding programs, as it helps to select genetic material to be used for further crossings. Twenty (20) common bean populations were analyzed using qualitative traits, chlorophyll “a” (Chl ‘a’), chlorophyll “b” (Chl ‘b’), total chlorophyll “a+b” (Total Chl) and carotenoides. The design of the experiment was conducted with leaves of common bean collected from different regions of Kosovo. The experiment was completely randomly with four repetitions. Pigments were extracted by grinding 80-100 mg freshly sampled leaves in 80% (v/v) acetone/water containing MgCO3, at room temperature, preserved in the dark for 24 hours. Concentration of chlorophyll and carotenoid content was measured by spectrophotometer using absorbance recorded at 663 nm, 644 nm and 452.3 nm for maximum absorption of Chl ‘a’, Chl ‘b’, and carotenoids respectively. According to our data the differences between populations for Chl ‘a’, and Chl ‘b’ was significantly higher at level of probability LSDp=0.01. The average values for Chl ‘a’, was 1.67 mg.g-1, while for Chl‘b’was 0.74 mg.g-1. In addition, the results for carotenoids content between populations were with high differences.