ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE OF FRENCH BEAN ( PHASEOLUS VULGARIS L.) GENOTYPES UNDER RED RIVER REGION OF ASSAM STATE, INDIA

French bean is one of the most important leguminous vegetable crop in Assam. Being a highest vegetable grown district of Assam an investigation was carried out in Darrang and Nagaon districts of Assam by both the Krishi Vigyan Kendras from 2014 to 2017 to evaluate the performance of three different French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) genotypes for growth and yield attributing characters. The genotypes, studied under this experiment were viz. Arka Anoop, Arka Suvidha, Arka Komal and farmer’s local variety. From the study, it has been revealed that genotype with relatively bigger seeds with more numbers of seeds per pod and higher bearing capacity per plant generally gives higher seed yield. Among the three genotypes, Arka Suvidha was the best one as it produced the highest yield (210.0 q/ha) and relatively good plant vigour (plant height 30.5 cm and no. of branches per plant 3.42) which were significantly higher as compared to Arka Anoop (124.0 q/ha) and Arka Komal(122.5q/ha). However, the lowest values of these attributes were associated with local cultivar. The average net return per hectare was found to be Rs. 1, 90,000.00 from the genotypes Arka Suvidha with a benefit cost ratio 4.8 . Hence, it may be concluded that Arka Suvidha may be adopted for commercial cultivation for achieving higher productivity and profitability under these vegetable growing zones of Ass