Biochemical indicators of drought tolerance in the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Estela R. Andrade . Vinı ´cius N. Ribeiro . Cleber V. G. Azevedo . Alisson F. Chiorato . Thomas C. R. Williams . Se ´rgio A. M. Carbonell Received: 6 October 2015 / Accepted: 4 May 2016 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016 Abstract The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important crop that is often planted in areas that suffer from low water availability, leading to signif- icant reductions in productivity. The breeding of genotypes better able to tolerate such conditions requires the efficient incorporation of resources pre- sent in germplasm banks. To this end, we investigated the responses of thirty bean genotypes to intermittent drought stress, with the aim of identifying biochemical markers for drought tolerance. The genotypes ana- lyzed presented significant variability in both produc- tivity and levels of soluble sugars, starch and amino acids under both irrigated and drought conditions. Moreover, we observed changes in the levels of these components under drought stress, providing informa- tion on the responses of the bean plants to this condition. Correlation analysis indicated a lack of relationship between components of the stem and productivity. On the other hand, levels of several components of the grain, including starch, total soluble sugars and amino acids were strongly posi- tively correlated with productivity under drought and irrigated conditions, making these components poten- tially useful biochemical markers for the selection of genotypes for breeding programs. Principal compo- nents analysis also indicated the presence of a relationship between biochemical composition and productivity, but reinforced the fact that multiple mechanisms are responsible for explaining the differ- ences in productivity between tolerant and susceptible genotypes. Keywords Plant breeding Á Phaseolus vulgaris Á Photoassimilates Á Productivity Introduction The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is one of the most widely cultivated legume crops and consti- tutes an important element of the diet of a significant proportion of the African and Latin American popu- lations. Approximately one-third of the areas planted with this species are located in regions that are subject to severe periods of drought stress that can result in crop losses of up to 90 %; indeed losses due to drought are one of the reasons for the low average levels of productivity of the common bean (Emam et al. 2010; Broughton et al. 2003). Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10681-016-1720-4) contains supple- mentary material, which is available to authorized users. E. R. Andrade Á C. V. G. Azevedo Á A. F. Chiorato Á S. A. M. Carbonell Grains and Fibers Center, Agronomic Institute of Campinas, Campinas, Sa ˜o Paulo, Brazil V. N. Ribeiro Á T. C. R. Williams (&) Department of Botany, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Brası ´lia, Brası ´lia, DF, Brazil e-mail: tcrwilliams@unb.br 123 Euphytica DOI 10.1007/s10681-016-1720-4