Evaluation of narrow leaflet genotypes and genetic variability in segregating generation of soybean (Glycine max (L) Merrill)

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted during kharif 2006 at Main Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad to evaluate the performance of narrow leaflet genotypes for yield and its component traits and to analyze the extent of 
variability in F₃ segregating generation of cross JS-93-05 x JS-335 of soybean. In the experiment I, among the four narrow leaflet genotypes evaluated, Acc. No.18A (DSb-12) recorded highest seed yield and exhibited significant superiority with respect to traits viz., pod length, days to maturity, number of seeds per plant and harvest index compared to best check JS-335. The analysis of variance and other genetic parameters indicated considerable genetic variability for different characters among the genotypes. In the experiment II, the population was classified based on leaflet shape viz., oval, ovate, lanceolate and linear leaflets. it was observed that considerable range of variation exhibited by all the four leaflet types. The characters viz., plant height, days to flowering, days to maturity, specific leaf weight, number of pods per plant, harvest index and 100 seed weight showed very narrow differences between phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation in all the four leaflet types. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean was observed for traits viz., number of pods per plant, specific leaf weight in oval, ovate and lanceolate leaflet types.