Genetic studies for pod traits in soybean

Abstract

An investigation was conducted in Kharif 2019 with 154 genotypes of soybean including four checks viz., JS 20-34, JS 20-98, JS 335 and NRC 86 to estimate genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance, pod trait, correlation coefficient and path coefficient analysis for pod and yield traits. Considerable amount of genetic variability was exhibited for all the traits under study which revealed that exploitable level of variability exists among genotypes.The highest per cent of PCV (43.97%) and GCV (39.89%) were found for one seeded pods/plant. High heritability with high genetic advance was observed for most of the traits under study. Correlation and path analyses revealed that the traits viz., number of seeds per plant, biological yield per plant, harvest index and 100 seed weight. Hence direct selection through these traits will be very effective for improvement and enhancement in the yielding potential of soybean genotypes.The categorization of genotypes on the basis of pod traits indicated that JS 20-66 had expressed higher number of four seeded and three seeded pods per plant, whereas JSM202, JS20-09, TS 37and NRC 76 reported higher number of four seeded pods. Hence, hybridization between these two groups may contribute profuse podding which ultimately enhance the number of seeds per plant.