Pod-edible bean or snap bean is a fairly new crop to domestic farmers but the national demand is steadily increasing in recent years along with the development of western food business and change in dietary patterns. At the same time, much efforts are being made to export it to foreign country, mainly to Japan. The amount of seeds introduced from outside is also continuously increasing along with the enlargement of area planted for the crop. Hybridization breeding for the crop has already been started to supply the cheaper and better seeds which will reduce the seed costs and foster the higher income to the farmers. In this experiment, several technologies related with the production of quality seeds are preliminary investigated. Some of the results obtained are summarized as follows; 1. Highly significant interaction was recognized between planting dates and no. of pods per plant and no. of branches but no interaction between planting dates and plant height and no. of nodes on main stem. Days to maturity was proportionally reduced to later planting dates. 2. Rate of viviparous pods and seeds was gradually increased in later planting dates but rate of germination was increased in earlier planting dates with lower germination rate in white seed coat grains than in colored seed ones. 3. Seed yield was higher in the earlier planting dates with a great deal of varietal difference. Early to mid April was considered to he the optimum planting dates for snap bean in Kyungbuk area. High correlation was recognized between seed yield and no. of pods per plant, no. of seeds per plant, and 100 seed weight. 4. Days to flowering was three and seven days longer in Cheongsong, high mountainous area than in Kunwi, somewhat prairie lowland. One hundred seed weight was also higher in Cheongsong than in Kunwi. Rate of viviparous grains, pods, and decayed seeds was higher in Cheongsong but, at the same time, the rate of germination and seed yield was also higher in Cheongsong. 5. One hundred seed weight of KLG5007 increased continuously up to 35days after flowering and decreased thereafter but that of KLG50027 increased to 40days after flowering and slowly reduced thereafter. The content of crude oil reached to maximum at 40 days after flowering and reduced thereafter. The rate of germination in Gangnangkong 1 was the highest, 89.3%, at 35 days after flowering and reduced thereafter while that in KLG50027 reached to maximum, 70.7%. at 40days after flowering and reduced thereafter. Thus, the optimum harvesting time for snap bean was considered to be 35~40days after flowering. 6. The snap bean pods at yellow bean stage easily became viviparous ones under saturated moisture conditions for 24 hours at . Therefore, it is recommended to harvest pods somewhat earlier than yellow-bean stage and let them do post maturing, especially when it is to be rained.

The film coated snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) seeds with five different coating materials treated with 3% increase in seed weight were planted at sandy loam soil controlled moisture content of 18, 19, 20 and 21 %. The oxygen diffusion rate (ODR) was calculated from the different moisture content soil. The number of normal seedlings, seedling vigor, and seedling capability in field (seed vigor x dry matter weight) were observed at 9 days after planting and compared to the changes of ODR. The germination rate and ODR were sharply decreased simultaneously in the seeds planted at 21 % soil moisture content. Seedling emergence did not occur at all as the soil moisture content increased above 22 %. Hence this value should be considered as the threshold of soil moisture content for seedling emergence. An ODR value under 20% did not influence the percent emergence significantly. The certain difference observing in the emergence at the same ODR was not related clearly to the condition of soil. So it can be assumed that the limit of soil moisture content for the emergence of snap bean was approximately 20%. The value of 18% soil moisture content may be considered as the optimum for snap bean emergence. There was close relationship between the mean value of ODR in different soil moisture contents and the emergence. The germination rates of the seeds coated with the different materials were quite different when the seeds were planted at 21 % soil moisture. Dry weight of the seedlings from film coated seeds was decreased slightly, but the germination rates were not much different from the non-treated control under relatively higher soil moisture content (21 %). Major factor lowering emergence rate was oxygen stress while film coating act as a minor constraint for snap bean sown in excess soil moisture condition.

Snap bean is a new corp in Korea but believed to have a great deal of potentials for both domestic and overseas markets. The present study was performed to obtain the basic information about growth- and quality-related characteristics and to determinate the optimum seeding date and harvesting time for snap bean. Pod yield was significantly affected by seeding date. The highest pod yield was obtained from March 20 for determinate type and April 4 for indeterminate one, respectively, with the range of 13.0-23.7 t/ha. The pod length of indeterminate type was over 13cm, and the pod length was over 5 grams. The pod width for tested varieties was less than 1.0cm. Considering the pod growth characters such as pod length, pod width, and pod weight, the optimum harvesting time for immature pods of snap bean was supposed to be from 15 to 20 days after flowering. The daily yield of snap bean was begun to sharply increase from 15 days after the first flowering and the maximum yield was recorded at 30 days after flowering. For the accumulated yield, nearly 90% of total yield was obtained in 42 days after flowering.