The use of reproductive vigor descriptors in studying genetic variability in nine Tunisian faba bean (Vicia faba L.) populations

A collection of nine Tunisian faba bean (Vicia faba) populations belonging to three botanical classes (Var. minor, var. equina and var. major) was evaluated using twenty seven agro-morphological traits. Analysis of variance, correlation coefficients and principal components analysis (PCA) were performed based on MVSP 3.13 program. Significant differences between populations were noted for most agromorphological traits in four main groups. The first group, positively correlated to the two axes, isrepresented by ‘Bachaar’ belonging to V. faba. var. minor, the second group, including V. faba. var. minor population (‘Massri’ and ‘Badï’), is positively correlated to the PC1 and negatively correlated to the PC2 while the third group, is composed of two V. faba var. major (‘Malti’ and ‘Batata’) and were positively and negatively correlated to the PC2 and PC1, respectively. Finally, the fourth group negatively correlated to the two axes, gathers the remaining population (‘Chahbi’, ‘Chemlali’, ‘Aguadulce’ and ‘Super Aguadulce’). The dendrogram based on Nei's genetic distance of the 9 populations using UPGMA method, show some genetic drift between populations.Key words: Faba bean, agromorphological traits, principal components analysis, UPGMA method.