DR. GEORGE CHEMINING’WA EVALUATION OF SNAP BEAN LINES FOR POD QUALITY, SHELF LIFE, COOKING CHARACTERISTICS AND YIELD POTENTIAL BENJAMIN N. ONYANCHA (A56/69166/2011) (MSc Agronomy) SUPERVISORS PROF. PAUL M. KIMANI DR. GEORGE CHEMINING’WA

1.0 CONTENTS 1.1 INTRODUCTION 1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT 1.3 JUSTIFICATION 1.4 BROAD OBJECTIVE 1.5 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES 1.6 HYPOTHESES 1.7 MATERIALS AND METHODS 1.8 EXPECTED OUTPUTS 1.9 WORKPLAN 1.10 BUDGET

1.1 INTRODUCTION Snap beans are also known as french beans, green beans and string beans. Its an horticultural crop contributing KSh. 4.4 billion in export earnings and KSh. 1.6 billion for domestic market (HCDA, 2010). Main importing countries are in EU, Middle East and South Africa. Its an important vegetable export crop in Kenya employing over 500,000 small scale farmers, and more than I million people along its value chain. Crop grown mainly in Eastern, Central and Rift Valley Provinces by smallholder farmers and exporting companies through contract farming.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT Diseases constitute a key snap bean production constraints in small holder farms in Kenya. Major diseases are rust, angular leaf spot and anthracnose. Use of agrochemicals to control diseases add extra cost on production thus reducing profits. Currently, there are no high yielding varieties with multiple disease resistance and market preferred pod quality as all snap bean seeds are imported (ASARECA,2010). Further, postharvest losses reduce gross margins for farmers.

1.3 JUSTIFICATION UON has been developing improved snap bean lines combining multiple disease resistance and high yield potential since 2005 (Kimani,2006). Several advanced lines with multiple resistances to rust, angular leaf spots and anthracnose have been identified (Kimani et al., 2012). However, yield potential, pod quality, shelf life, palatability and other organoleptic characteristics of these lines have not been evaluated. Colour, firmness, stringiness, pod shape, size, and turgidity have high influence on acceptability of snap bean pods to a consumer (Hedwig et al, 2012) These are extremely affected by snap bean variety, timeliness in harvesting, handling, storage techniques and time. Hence postharvest characteristics and productivity need to be evaluated.

1.4 BROAD OBJECTIVE To contribute to competitiveness of Kenya’s snap bean sub-sector through the development and dissemination of new high yielding snap bean varieties with multiple disease resistance, marketable pod traits, long shelf life, consumer preferred organoleptic characteristic and efficient local seed production.

1.5 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES The specific objectives of this study are to: 1. Determine the yield potential of advanced snap bean lines in major production environments in Kenya 2. Determine harvest period and pod quality of new snap bean lines 3. Determine shelf life of selected advanced snap bean lines 4. Determine cooking time and other organoleptic characteristics of advanced snap bean lines.

1.6 HYPOTHESES 1. The new advanced snap bean lines have the same yield potential as commercial varieties. 2. There are no differences in harvest period and pod quality between advanced lines and the commercial snap bean varieties. 3. There are no differences in shelf life between the new advanced lines and commercial varieties. 4. There are no differences in cooking time, tenderness and palatability between advanced lines and available commercial varieties.

1.7 MATERIALS AND METHODS TRIAL SITES On-station at KARI-Thika located at coordinates 00 59’ south and 370 04’ and altitude of 1,548 metres above sea level. On-farm at Mwea in Kirinyaga south district located at coordinates 370 20’ PLANT MATERIALS 147 Genotypes (F7, F8 and F9) 10 Check varieties (Amy, Teresa, Morgan, Mejakelly, Paulista, Vernadon, Star 2053, Morelli, Samantha and Julia. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN RCBD – with three replicates.

COMPARISON BETWEEN CHECK VARIETY AND ADVANCED LINE TERESA ADVANCED LINE TERESA ADVANCED LINE

The respective pod load and weights will be recorded per genotype. 1. Determination of yield potential of advanced snap bean lines in major production environments in Kenya Green pods will be harvested between 8.00am and 10.00am 3 times a week and graded into extra fine, fine and bobby. The respective pod load and weights will be recorded per genotype. Cumulative total number of pods and total weight will be obtained at the end of the harvest duration.

Harvested pods from an advanced line

2. Determination of harvest period and pod quality of new snap bean lines Initial time of harvest will be recorded in relation to days from planting. Harvest period: Sampling every other day, i.e. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Pods shall be graded into extra fine, fine and bobby categories. The pod curvature, shape and colour will be recorded. Pod diameter and length will be measured using vanier calipers and ruler. Snapping test will be done by breaking five pods and noting degree of stringiness.

Pod length comparisons GENOTYPE GENERATION 23 (PAULISTA) 48 (KSB25-4-T) F6 13 (KSB47-1-T) F6 154 (MEJAKELLY) 59 (STAR 2053)

Pod length comparisons GENOTYPE GENERATION 31 (KSB47-2-T) F6 192 (KSB47-2-T) F6 388 (JULIA) 363 (KSB25-4-T) F7 372 (KSB27-7-T) F7

3. Evaluation of shelf life of selected advanced snap bean lines Conventional open surface storage method shall be used. Freshly harvested samples will be placed on tables of a secured room whose temperature and humidity will be recorded. RCBD with three replicates shall be used. Changes in moisture levels, texture, degree of firmness/wilting (physical appearance) and colour of the samples shall be monitored after every 4 days. Moisture will be determined by drying samples in oven at 105 0C for 4 hours. Penetrometer shall be used to determine firmness , where each 1.0 degree represents o.1 mm penetration.

4. Determination of cooking time and organoleptic characteristics Ten fine grade pods from each genotype will be randomly selected for cooking and texture test. 4 cm of each pod will be cut from the centre. Five cut pieces will then be placed on the texture analyzer and cut by a sharp blade attached to the analyzer. Data on texture is analyzed and relayed to the attached computer. The remaining pieces are cooked in a waterbath set at 90 0C for 10 minutes, cooled for 30 minutes and texture analyzed. Organoleptic characteristics: Tasting panel using a Hedonic scale including changes in colour, physical appearance of cooked product and flavour.

Water bath (cooking temperature is controlled)

Data analysis Data collected shall be subjected to analysis of variance using Genstat Software package and means compared using LSD at p=0.05

1.8 EXPECTED OUTPUTS Recommendation of advanced lines to be advanced for production of high quality seed. M.Sc thesis At least two publications in a refereed journal

1.9 Workplan Activity Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2011 Concept note and Trial sites visit 2012 Trial experiment and data collection Repeat experiment, Proposal dev. and data collection Data analysis and Thesis write up First Thesis Draft 2013 Submit Thesis Draft Defend Thesis Submit corrected Thesis Graduate

1.10 Budget Item Amount (Ksh) Leasing land 20,000 Land preparation 12,000 Planting fertilizer TSP 14,500 Top dressing fertilizer 11,200 Weeding 9,500 Agrochemicals 11,500 Harvesting labour 85,760 Laboratory tests 14,400 Transport cost to Trial sites 45,000 Miscellaneous 22385 Total cost 246,235

Promising advanced lines

Promising advanced lines Cont’

Healthy crop

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