Vol. 12, Issue 11 (2023)

Author(s):
Anand Kumawat, Sheshnath Mishra, Ramraj Sen, Rajkumar Sharma and Vijay Das Bairagi

Abstract:
Soybean production and productivity is mainly depends on the improved cultivars. First step in any crop improvement is mining of diverse genotypes in yield and others beneficial agronomical traits from available germplasm. Twenty five soybean genotypes were evaluated for genetic variability among eight morphological characters using Randomized Block Design during Kharif season, 2022 with three replications at Research Farm, under Mandsaur University, Mandsaur (M.P.). ANOVA showed significant differences for all eight traits among the accessions. Significant variability was recorded in mean performance for traits under study, which indicates that the lines showed level of exploitable genetic variability to be use for further breeding of development of suitable cultivars. The PV value was more than the corresponding GV value of all eight traits. High GCV & PCV were noted for plant height (cm) (30.20 and 30.48) and pods per plants in number (23.82 and 23.97). Whereas, moderate, for number of primary branches/ plant (12.42 and 12.95), 100 seed weight (gm) (11.42 and 11.42) and days to 50% flowering (10.12 and 10.37).All the eight quantitative traits under investigation showed the high Heritability with range from 99.98 (100 seed weight) to 91.93 (number of primary branches/ plant). Heritability of 99.98% was maximum for 100 seed weight (gm) followed by number of pods per plants (98.76), plant height (cm) (98.16), days to 50% pod initiation (96.73), grain yield/plant (gm) (95.84), days taken to 50% flowering (95.29), days to maturity (94.30) and number of primary branches/ plant (91.93). High h² (heritability) along with high GA (genetic advance) was revealed by plant height (cm) followed by number of pods per plants, number of primary branches/ plant, 100 seed weight (gm) and days to 50% flowering. It is showing that these traits are governed by additive gene action and there is huge scope for genetic improvement by simple selection in soybean.