FRENCH BEAN

Scientific name :-Phaseolus vulgaris L.

Family :-Leguminosae
French bean is probably a native of South Mexico and
Central America and is undoubtedly of ancient origin.
These beans were brought from Central America and
Mexico to Europe by the Spanish and Portuguese. French
bean which is also called as common bean, snap bean,
bush bean, field bean, garden bean, kidney bean, rajmah,
navy bean is one of the most popular and widely grown
vegetables in south east Asia. It is an excellent vegetable
crop for green pods as well as for seeds.The green
immature pods are cooked and eaten as vegetable.
Immature pods are marketed fresh, frozen or canned. 100
g edible fresh pods contain 91.4% water, 1.7% protein,
0.1% fat, 0.5% mineral water, 4.5% carbohydrates, 50 mg
calcium, 28 mg phosphorus and 1.7 mg iron. 100 g dry
seeds contain 9.6% water, 24.9% protein, 0.8% fat, 3.2%
 CULTIVAR
Contender: Plants bushy bearing light green, fleshy, oval and
thick pods. High yielder suitable for plains. Maturity 50-55 days (first
picking). Yield 80-95 q/ha. Resistant to powdery mildew.
Pusa Parvati: A bushy variety bearing light green, round and
meaty pods. Maturity 45 days (first picking). Yield 80-85 q/ha.
Resistant to powdery mildew.
Arka Anoop: A pedigree selection from Arka Bold x Arka Komal
Plants bushy, photo-insenstive, resistant to both rust and bacterial
blight. Pods long [17-18 cm] flat and straight. Duration 70 days and
yield 200 q/ha.
Arka Bold: It is a bushy variety resistant to rust, Pods flat (1.5 cm
width) medium long (15-17cm), stringless, smooth, light green,
fleshy, with crisp texture. Pods. Yield 160 q/ha in 70 days.
Pant Anupama: Selection in exotic germplasm. Pods medium
long, round, straight, green It is resistant to rust, common bean
mosaic and angular leaf spot. Developed at GBPUAT, Pantnagar.
Pant Bean 2: Pods flattish, round stringless. Both for green pods
and dry seeds, cross between Turkish Brown x Contender. It is
Arka Komal: It has green, fleshy, tender, long and straight pods.
Produces 200-250 q/ha of green pods in 70-75 days.
Arka Suvidha: Bushy, photo-insensitive, with medium long (15-
17cm), stringless, smooth, light green fleshy pods. Pod yield 190
q/ha in 70 days.
Arka Sharath: It is an improvement over Arka Suvidha. This is a
photo¬ insensitive, bushy ring bean variety with medium long (15-
16cm), stringless, smooth, and green fleshy pods. Pods are round on
cross section and thin.
Kentucky Wonder: A pole type with green, fleshy, round and
slightly curved pods. Maturity 60-65 days (first picking). Yield 100-
120 q/ha.
Pusa Himlata: A pole type. Pods medium long, round, straight,
light green, meaty and stringless. Seeds white. Maturity 60 days
(first picking).
Kashi Harittima: A Pole bean variety .
Climate and soil
French bean is a cool weather crop but can tolerate higher
temperature than pea. The bean can be classified into long-day,
short-day and day-neutral plants. Most of the French bean varieties
It can be grown on practically all types of soils except clay soils.
Sandy and sandy loam soils are preferred for an early crop but
heavier soils are desired for mid-season crop. It does not grow well
on extremely acidic soils and is sensitive to high concentrations of
aluminum and manganese. The most desirable pH is 5.3-6.0.
Sowing time: Since it is relatively a cool-weather crop, it is
grown in winter. In the plains, the seed is sown from the middle of
August-October, but where the winter and summer are not very
severe, it can be sown up to February. In hills, it is sown during
March-early May.
Landpreparation and sowing: The soil in the field is
brought to fine tilth and 25 tonne/ha of FYM is incorporated into the
soil before planting. Ridges and furrows are opened at 60 cm
spacing. 30 kg N, 80 kg P and 60 kg K/ha are applied to the soil. A
spacing of 60 cm x 120 cm is recommended for better aeration and
to minimize rapid spread of foliar diseases. Furrows are irrigated 2
days before sowing. French bean is a shy nodulator and in order to
encourage good nodulation and better nitrogen fixation, treating
seeds with rhizobium culture is very essential. A day before sowing,
treat the seeds with rhizobium mixed in jaggery solution and allow
There are some pole or vine varieties which are spaced about 1 m
apart from row to row and 8-10 cm from hill to hill within the rows.
About 6 seeds are sown in each hill and later thinned out to 3-4
plants. It requires about 30 kg of seeds to plant 1 ha area. For
continuous harvesting of beans, 2-3 plantings should be made at
regular intervals. The ridges on which sowing is done should be
uniformly moist at the time of sowing to obtain good and uniform
germination of seeds.

Intercultural operations
The field should be kept weed free up to 40 days after sowing.
Generally hand weeding is followed to control the weeds, which also
helps in loosening the soil. First weeding can be done 15 days after
sowing and second weeding 30 days after sowing with earthing up
operation. After 30 days of sowing 30 kg N/ha is top dressed.
Insufficient water at any growth stage will reduce yield and pod
quality. It is most sensitive to water deficit during flowering and fruit
development. For the good crop growth well timed furrow irrigation is
effective. Wilting in the late morning indicates that the crop should be
irrigated. As a general rule during the dry season, irrigate at an
interval of 3—4 days during the first month after sowing, and then
However, optimum soil moisture should be maintained at the time
of fruit set and pod development. It requires about 7-8 irrigations in
spring season and 3-5 irrigations in winter.
As the vine grows, it requires staking in the pole type of beans
which may be done with the help of poles. In fact, in some areas,
pole beans are intercropped with other crops like maize to get self-
staking. In bush varieties, no support is required.

Harvesting and yield

Crop will be normally ready for first picking by 40-45 days after
sowing depending on the variety and season of cultivation. Harvest
during cool periods, such as late afternoon or early morning.
Immediately after harvest shift the produce to the shade. Further,
there will be 2-3 pickings to be done at 4-5 days interval. About
150-200 q/ha of marketable yield can be obtained. Yield in pole
beans is almost double of the bush varieties. The pods can be
stored for about 15-20 days at 2-4°C with 60-70% relative humidity.
Dry beans are harvested when a large percentage of the pods are
fully ripe but before they become very dry and begin to shatter.
They are cured for 2-3 weeks and then threshed by machines. The
yield of dry bean seeds varies from 15-16 q/ha.