Adaptation to High Temperature and Water Deficit in the Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) during the Reproductive Period

This paper reviews the adaption to heat and drought stresses in Phaseolus vulgaris, a grain and vegetable crop widely grown in both the Old and New World. Substantial genotypic differences are found in morphophysiological characteristics such as phenology, partitioning, plant-water relations, photosynthetic parameters, and shoot growth, which are related to reproductive responses. The associations between (a) days to podding and leaf water content and (b) the number of pods per plant and seed yield are consistent across different environments and experiments. Leaf water content is maintained by reductions in leaf water potential and shoot extension in response to heat and drought stress. Heat-tolerant cultivars have higher biomass allocation to pods and higher pod set in branches. These traits can be used as a marker to screen germplasm for heat and drought tolerance. In this paper, we briefly review the results of our studies carried out on heat and drought tolerance in the common bean at the Tropical Agriculture Research Front, Ishigaki, Japan.