Genetic and physiological variation among bean lines resistant and susceptible to bean anthracnose

Electrophoresis was used to determine genetic and or biochemical variation, if any, among bean lines resistant and susceptible to anthracnose. This was based on two enzyme systems: peroxisase and esterase. It was revealed that resistant and suceptible plants differed in their band patterns and intensities. Band intensity differences occurred mainly among monomorphic bands with higher intensities expressed by susceptible plants, while band pattern differences were expressed both by resistant and susceptible plants. These differences appeared only at certain stages of development. These stages were identified as 3 and 40 days after emergence and were considered as critical stages for screening purposes. The peroxidase isozyme A5 and the esterase isozyme C1 at 3 days, and the peroxidase band C1 and esterase bands A1 and A2 at 40 days were important because these differences could be used as 'genetic/biochemical' markers for screening the population for resistance. Thus, electrophoretic differences could be used as a screening aid and this could save time and effort in breeding programmes. Comparisons between inoculated and non-inoculated leaves of resistant and susceptible lines indicated that infection induced changes in both the amount and kind of peroxidases even before symptoms of the disease appeared. However, there were no specific differences between resistant and susceptible lines, indicating that resistant and susceptible lines responded to infection in the same manner.