Some common bean breeding programs in Brazil aim at obtaining upright cultivars. The stay green is one of the phenotypes responsible for that type of plant habit, and it means late senescence of stem and leaves in relation to the pods. Aiming at verifying the efficiency of selection for stay green, the cultivars Carioca MG (with stay green) and Carioca 300 Vagens (without stay green) were crossed, and derived 89 F2:3 families that were evaluated in the dry season, and in the winter of year 2000. Besides the families, both parents and nine checks were included in the experiments using a 10 x 10 square lattice, with two replications in the dry season and three in the winter. The treatments were evaluated using a score diagram for stay green. Direct selection showed low efficiency due to the high families by environments interaction, since it was confirmed by the realized heritability of only 22.9%. Selection based on average family performance showed to be more effective.
Common bean; heritability; upright plant type
