Study of variability in Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) improvement

Yachna Shree, S Ram, E Ahmad, Nutan Verma, Shanti Bhushan

Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, Ranchi-834006, Jharkhand

Received: 28 January 2016                              Revised Accepted: 29 April 2016

ABSTRACT

Ninety genotypes of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill.) of diverse orgin were evaluated in randomized block design with two replications for variability, heritability and genetic advance during Kharif 2014. Observations on seventeen quantitative characters were recorded. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the characters except number of primary roots.The highest genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) was recorded for yield per plant, followed by number of branches per plant. The moderate value of GCV was recorded for 100 seed weight, plant height, seeds per pod and pod length while low value of GCV was recorded for 50% flowering, days to maturity, pod length, oil  and protein percentage. High heritability estimates were observed for plant height, 100 seed weight while the highest value of genetic advance as percent of mean was found for yield per plant followed by number of branches per plant. Moderate value of genetic advance was found for oil percentage followed by days to maturity, pod length and low value was found for protein percentage.

Key Words: Genetic variability, Genetic advance, Heritability, Soybean