Haricot bean (Phaseolus vulagris L.), locally known as ‘Boleqe’ also known as dry bean, common bean and kidney bean is an important source of protein, calories and cash for small holder farmers of Ethiopia. The national and regional research institutions in the country have released many varieties for commercial production. However, these improved varieties did not tested for their adaptability potential under Abergele condition. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted during the 2013 and 2014 main cropping seasons using a randomized complete block design with three replications to evaluate the performance and select the best and well adapted Haricot bean varieties, as well as to assess the extent of association of agronomic traits among themselves and with yield under rain-fed conditions at Abergelle on station. The data of 12 different agronomic traits subjected to combined analysis of variance revealed that there was a significant (P≤ 0.05) difference among the varieties for most of the characters (days to 50% emergence, flowering, seed filling period and 90% physiological maturity, pod length, plant height, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, seed yield, biomass yield, harvest index and thousand seed weight) studied. The correlation coefficient analysis also revealed significant (P≤ 0.01) and positive association of seed yield with days to flowering (r = 0.51), 90% physiological maturity (r = 0.38), pod length (r = 0.46), plant height (r = 0.34), number of pods per plant (r = 0.46), biomass yield (r = 0.69), harvest index (r = 0.74) and thousand seed weight (r = 0.46) but, negative correlation with seed filling period (r = -0.46). As a result, selecting for those traits showed positive and significant correlation coefficient with grain yield supports the possibility to increase seed yield and the vice versa. Generally, the present study entails the presence of significant variations among common bean varieties. Awash melka had a better performance than the other varieties for yield (1.9 t ha-1) and the yield related traits. Therefore, it was recommended as promising variety to increase source of cash crop for farmers in the study area and foreign currency as export crop of the country, Ethiopia.

Keywords: Adaptation, Agronomic traits, Correlation coefficient, phaseolus vulgaris L.