Nutritional and Culinary Traits of Phaseolus Genetic Resources from NE Italy In recent decades, progressive abandonment of common bean cultivation has taken place in Italy : crop surfaces drop from 490,000 (1950) to 10,000 ha (2004). In Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG), the easternmost region of Italy, climbing bean landraces are grown in small farms and kitchen gardens. Within a National Program on conservation and sustainable utilization of agro-biodiversity, a collection of Phaseolus populations of common and snap bean has been assembled and maintained ex situ. Compared with commercial varieties, landraces often maintain superior culinary traits, and are sold at premium prices on local markets. The evaluation of 27 common bean materials recently collected in FVG is presented, to sustain marketing actions targeting superior bean landraces under EU protected Geographic Indications. An attempt is made to assess diversity across and within FVG landraces, which is to be maintained in conservative agriculture (Brown, 1999). Fabiano Miceli, Guido Fellet and Luisa Dalla Costa University of Udine, Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, I Udine, Italy. Methods Field experiments were run in two sub-alpine locations of FVG (Arta, 550 m above sea level, and Pesariis, 802 m asl) in consecutive but contrasting summer seasons (2002: wet; 2003: warm and dry). In 2002, twenty climbing bean materials (18 putative landraces and 2 cultivars) were included. In 2003, 14 materials were tested, of which 5 in common with 2002 experiments. One year in advance for each group, phenotyping was run by using 15 morpho-phenological descriptors (Schachl and de La Rosa, 2000). Organic agriculture field practices were used; farmyard manure was applied prior to planting at about 60 t ha -1. To determine metal (Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn) concentrations, seed samples were oven dried, powdered and acid digested with a microwave oven (EPA method 3052). After dilution and filtration (0.45  m PTFE), the elements were determined by means of an ICP spectrometer (Varian sinc., ICP-OES Vista MPX). Water absorption was recorded after 18 hours of soaking, and seed coat proportion was obtained from 100 soaked seeds, by separating the coats of the cotyledons (Santalla et al., 1999). Seed protein concentration was obtained via Kjeldhal N x In each location and year, experiments were arranged in CRB design with 3 reps. The GLM univariate procedure - on 2002 and 2003 separate datasets - and Box Plots were managed with the SPSS 12.0 package (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL ). Friuli Venezia Giulia Results Seed protein accumulation increased under wet season (2002). Pegasus (check 1) was unstable between years; Kondor (check 2), Borlotti 4, Militons 3 and Cesarins moderately decreased protein accumulation in In general, variability within materials seem indipendent by population structure, i.e. landraces made up of one or two biotypes express similar variation in protein content Large variation was observed within a few landraces ( Militons 2, Chei di Milan, Borlotti V1, Bianco Resia ). However, in both years Fe concn was significantly different across materials. A part from Pegasus, common materials showed similar seed Fe concn in 2002 and Seed Cu concn was significantly different among bean materials in The pattern were similar to those observed for Fe. Median Cu concn in checks ( Pegasus & Kondor ) and in other materials in common were consistent in the two sets. Settembrin (2002) and Borlotti V1 (2003) had the largest phenotypical variation for the micronutrient. Water absorption, measured by rehydration percent (RI), is highly and negatively correlated with cooking times. Large differences were observed in 2002: half of the materials felt under 75% RI. Conversely, all materials tested in 2003 were above 75% RI. Top-quality landraces ( Borlotti 4, Militons 3, Cesarins ) were included in the 2003 test. On the whole, RI variation within materials was low or very low. After phenotyping, seven out of 27 landraces (five in 2002 and two in 2003) appeared to be made up of two distinct biotypes. Introduction References Brown AHD (1999) In: Brush SB (ed). Genes in the field: on-farm conservation of crop diversity. IPGRI, Rome pages. Santalla M, Fueyo MA, Rodino AP, Montero I, de Ron AM (1999). BASE 3(4), Schachl R, de La Rosa L (2000) In: De La Quadra et al. (eds). Web: Information on the diversity for food quality characteristics in common bean populations from Alpine areas of NE Italy is relevant to maintain local populations by their use. Specific marketing actions under the EU protected Geographic Indications should sustain farmers to continue bean cultivation in marginal environments. Perspectives