Pollen mixture, a recombination alternative in common bean breeding

Recombination can be a limiting factor in recurrent selection programs, especially in species such as common bean where artificial hybridization reduces seed setting. Therefore, the development of new techniques to improve recombination efficiency is important. Experiments were conducted in two sowing periods, July (autumn-winter season) and February (dry growing season), using the ESAL 686 and Small White cultivars as the female parents and the Carioca, Ouro Negro and ESAL 686 or Small White cultivars as male parents, depending on the female parent. Five technicians with different hybridization experience and two hybridization methods (with and without emasculation) were tested. A mixture of pollen from the three male parents was used in the pollinations, which were made in greenhouse. The resulting F 1 seeds were sown in the field and the male parent identified by morphological markers. The greatest pollination success (68%) occurred in the autumnwinter season without emasculation. It was also observed that the technicians differed in efficiency, but no method x technician interaction was detected. The pollen mixture was efficient to improve recombination.