Morphological characterization of 10 accessions of snake bean (vigna unguiculata) collected from Kelantan as a basis for plant improvement

Snake bean (Vigna unguiculata) is an important legume in Malaysia as a daily dishes and is grown commercially for local market. The breeding efforts is required to impove the available varieties. Hence, the characterization and evaluation of availabe varieties is the first step to facilitate thebreeding efforts. Ten snake beans varieties from different accessions Ayer Lanas, Tanah Merah, Pasir Puteh, Rantau Panjang, Kota Bharu, Bukit Bunga, Machang, Pasir Mas, Jeli and Pengkalan Chepa were grown at Agra Park, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan to characterise and assess variability in qualitative and quantitative characteristics among them. The varieties were planted in a randomised complete block design with ten replicates. Qualitative characteristics for leaf morphology, flower colour, seed colour, seed size and leaf shape were observed. Quantitative data for plant height, number of branches per plant, days to first flowering, days to pod maturity, length of harvesting time, number of pods per plant, pod length, seed number per pod and 100 seed weight were calculated.. Results from analysis of variance and hierarchical cluster analysis showed that there is a significant variation among the ten varieties, suggesting that the breeding efforts is needed for future use in endeavors to improve the crop.