Journal of Biotechnology

& Crop Science

5(6): 82-86, 2016

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

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

INTRODUCTION

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] is a major oil
seed crop in the world and is called as a golden bean
or miracle bean because of its versatile nutritional
qualities having 20 percent oil and 38 to 43 percent
protein, which has biological value as meat and fish
protein and rich in amino acids like lysine and
tryptophan Quayam et al. (1985). Genetic variability
is the basic requirement for crop improvement as this
provides wider scope for selection. Thus,
effectiveness of selection is dependent upon the
nature, extent and magnitude of genetic variability
present in material and extent to which it is heritable.
Hence, in present investigation an attempt was made
to assess the variability of pod yield and yield
contributing traits, along with indices of variability i.e
genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), phenotypic
coefficient of variation (PCV), heritability in broad
Yachna Shree ( ), S Ram, E Ahmad, Nutan Verma, Shanti
Bhushan
Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Birsa Agricultural
University, Kanke, Ranchi-834006, Jharkhand
Email: yachnashree@gmail.com
sence (h2 bs), genetic advance (GA) and genetic
advance as percent of mean (GAM).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The experimental materials consists of ninety
genotypes of soybean including five checks which
were selected from the germplasm stock of Soybean
Research Scheme, BAU, Kanke representing
different agro-ecological niches of India. These
genotypes of soybean were evaluated in randomized
block design with two replications at experimental
area of Plant Breeding and Genetics department,
Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, Ranchi during
Kharif 2014. Each genotype was accommodated in a
single row of 3 m length with a spacing of 45 cm
between rows and 30cm between plants within the
row. Observations on seventeen quantitative
characters (Table 1 and 2) were recorded on five
randomly selected plants from each genotype and
average value was used for statistical analysis the
data were analyzed statistically by analysis of

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variance as per randomized block design method
given by Ostle (1966). The coefficients of variability
were calculated following Burton (1952). Heritability
and genetic advance under selection for these
attributes were calculated according to Allard (1960).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In the present investigation, ninety genotypes of
soybean were studied to access their genetic potential.
Analysis of variance revealed highly significant
differences among the genotypes for all traits studied
(Table 1) except number of primary roots, indicating
presence of considerable amount of genetic variation
among the study materials. Jain and Ramgiry (2000)
and Chandel et al (2013) also reported significant
differences among genotypes for various characters
of soybean.

Table 1 Analysis of variance of quantitative characters of soybean genotypes.

No. No
50 of of No.
Days See Ro Ro
So % Plan bra No of Pod 100 Root Root Pri Of
D to ds Oil Protei ot ot Yiel
ur Flo t ht. nch pods/ len seed Fresh dry ma Late
f mat /po % n% Len vol d
ce wer (cm) es/ Plant gth wt wt wt. ry ral
urity d gth .
ing pla roo roots
nt t
5.33 57.8 2.15 0.45 17.42 0.15 0.00 1.27 8.55 6.4 0.1 4.67 1.84
R 1 2.175 0.394 3.520 0
8 00 1 0 2 6 5 5 8 94 65 2 9
32.3 112. 153. 74. 2.4 23.2
8 2.73 163.3 0.18 0.38 8.30 3.71 6.090 3.925 0.919 58.1
T 06* 946* 103* 25* 58 0 80*
9 0** 08** 0** 9** 1** 1** ** ** ** 38**
* * * * ** *
8 1.40 4.03 0.96 0.25 15.19 0.03 0.03 0.10 0.16 0.0 0.0 7.72 2.70
Er 1.470 0.056 0.065 0
9 6 5 2 0 7 5 9 8 1 89 47 8 1

**significant at 1 % level

The assessment of heritable and non-heritable
components in the total variability observed is
indispensable in adopting suitable breeding
procedure. The heritable portion of the overall
observed variation can be ascertained by studying the
components of variation such as GCV, PCV,
heritability and predicted genetic advance. The
genetic coefficient of variation provides a measure to
compare the genetic variability present among
various quantitative traits. The highest genotypic
coefficient of variation (GCV) was recorded for yield
per plant, followed by number of branches per plant,
root length, root fresh weight, root dry weight, root
volume, number of pods per plant and number of
lateral roots. Similar results for high GCV have also
been observed earlier by Ganeshmurthy and Seshadri
(2004), Karad et al (2005) and Patil et al (2011) for
pods per plant, seed yield per plant. The moderate
value of GCV was recorded for 100 seed weight,
plant height, seeds per pod and pod length. Similar
finding were observed by Bhairav et al (2006) for
plant height, 100 seed weight, seed yield and Karad et
al (2005) for number of seeds per pod. Low value of
GCV was recorded for 50% flowering, days to
maturity, pod length, oil % and protein %. Similar
finding were observed by Bhairav et al (2006) for
days to maturity, oil percentage and protein
percentage and Patil et al (2011) for 50% flowering,
days to maturity and protein content. The phenotypic
coefficient of variation was found to be highest for
yield which was followed by number of branches per
plant, number of pods per plant, root length, root
fresh weight, root dry weight, root volume and
number of lateral roots. This was in conformity with
the results obtained by Patil et al (2011) for number
of pods per plant and seed yield, Jain and Ramgiry
(2000) for seed yield. The moderate value of PCV
was recorded for 50 % flowering, plant height, seeds
per pod and 100 seed weight. Similar finding were
observed by Jain and Ramgiry (2000) for 100 seed
weight and seeds per pod. Low value of PCV was

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J of Biotech & Crop Sci (2016) 5(6): 82-86

recorded for the traits days to maturity, pod length,
oil content and protein content. Similar findings were
also observed by Patil et al (2011) for protein
percentage.
The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was
found to be greater than genotypic coefficient of
variation for all the quantitative characters studied.
Similar findings were also observed by Karad et al
(2005), Bhairav et al (2006), Chandel et al (2013),
Baraskar et al (2014), Mahbub et al (2015).
The extent of the environment influence on traits is
explained by the magnitude of the differences
between GCV and PCV. Large value of differences
between GCV and PCV values reflect high
environmental influence on the expression of traits. In
this study, slight differences are implying least
influence of environment and additive gene effect
indicating that genotypes can be improved and
selected for these characters.
Heritability is the ratio of genotypic variance to
phenotypic variance or total variance. Heritability is
the heritable portion of a phenotypic variance. It is
good index of transmission of characters from parent
to their offspring. The estimates of heritability help in
selection of elite genotypes from diverse genetic
population. But heritability itself does not provide any
indication towards the amount of genetic progress that
would results in selecting best individual; rather it
depends upon amount of genetic advance. Hence
heritability and genetic advance are important
parameters. Heritability estimates along with genetic
advance are normally more helpful in predicting the
grain under selection (Johnson et al 1955).

Table 2 Estimates of phenotypic and genotypic parameters for seventeen quantitative traits.
Characters Mean Range GCV PCV h2(bs) GA 5% GAM 5%
50% flowering 39.25 29.5-49.5 10.01 10.24 95 7.91 20.17
Days to maturity 99.6 88.5-116.5 7.40 7.54 96 14.93 14.99
Plant height (cm) 52.80 40.87-80.86 16.62 16.67 99 18.07 34.19
No.of branches/plant 3.76 2-7 29.57 31.08 90 2.18 57.95
No. of pods/plant 34.44 17.5-59 24.98 26.23 90 16.88 49.01
Pod length 3.31 2.52-4.23 8.12 9.07 80 0.49 14.97
Seeds/pod 2.30 2-3 18.15 19.14 89 0.81 35.47
100 seed weight 11.55 6.11-17.83 17.54 17.65 99 4.14 35.89
Oil % 17.05 14.3-20 7.81 7.99 96 2.68 15.74
Protein % 38.31 34.35-42.5 3.97 4.56 76 2.73 7.11
Root length (cm) 24.07 16.11-42.89 25.29 25.30 99 12.53 52.07
Root fresh weight (g) 5.53 3.65-9.61 25.15 25.33 98 2.84 51.44
Root dry weight (g) 3.07 2.04-5.23 21.22 22.02 93 1.29 42.13
Root volume 4.45 2.715-7.4 24.69 24.93 98 2.24 50.38
No. of lateral roots 23.02 13.5-40 21.80 23.41 87 9.63 41.82
Yield/plant 9.60 4.98-21.38 33.39 35.51 88 6.21 64.67

In the present investigation high heritability estimates
were observed for plant height, 100 seed weight and
root length followed by root fresh weight, root
volume, oil content, 50% flowering, number of
branches per plant, number of pods per plant, days to
maturity, number of branches per plant, number of
pods per plant, pod length, seeds per pod, number of
lateral roots, yield per plant, protein content which
clearly indicated that these characters were least
influenced by environment. High heritability
suggested high components of heritable portion of
variation that can be exploited by breeders in the
selection of superior genotypes on the basis of
phenotypic performance. The results are in
accordance with reports of earlier work reported by
Karad et al (2005) for plant height, pods per plant,

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days to 50% flowering, Kumar (2003) for days to
50% flowering,plant height,pods per plant, seed yield,
Malik et al (2006) for seed weight, days to maturity,
505 flowering, oil content, plant height, protein
content, Nag et al (2007) for plant height, pods per
plant, seeds per pod, seed yield, Aditya et al (2011)
for pods per plant, Bhat et al (2012) for number of
pods per plant, Baraskar et al (2014) for number of
pods per plant, days to maturity, plant height and
Osekita et al (2014) for days to maturity, days to 50%
flowering, 100 seed weight Low heritability
estimates were obtained for protein
content.confirming the finding of Osekita et al
(2014). From the study of genetic advance as percent
of mean for different characters, it was observed that
the highest value of genetic advance as percent of
mean was found for yield per plant followed by
number of branches per plant, root length, root fresh
weight, root volume, number of pods per plant, root
dry weight, number of lateral roots, seeds per pod,
hundred seed weight, plant height and 50 % flowering.
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. The
present result was supported by the findings observed
by Ganeshmurthy and Seshadri (2004) for oil content,
Dilnesaw et al (2013) for 50 % flowering. The above
results indicated that the characters 50 % flowering,
plant height, number of branches per plant, number of
pods per plant, seeds per pod, 100 seed weight, root
length, root volume, root fresh weight, root dry weight,
number of lateral roots and yield per plant, show high
heritability coupled with high genetic advance as
percent of mean due to the predominance of the
additive gene action. So selection may be effective
for further improvement of these traits. These results
are in agreement with the findings reported by Chettri
and Nath (2005) for plant height and seed yield,
Bhairav et al (2006) for number of pods per plant,
Nag et al (2007) for plant height, pod bearing length,
number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant
and seed yield per plant, Bhat et al (2012) for number
of pods per plant. The characters like days to
maturity, pod length, oil percentage and protein
J of Biotech & Crop Sci (2016) 5(6): 82-86
percentage exhibited high heritability coupled with
moderate to low genetic advance as % of mean,
suggesting preponderance of non-additive gene action
in the inheritance of these characters; hence, in this
case selection may not be effective.
Relatively high GCV, PCV, heritability in broad
sense and genetic advance as percent of mean,
obtained for number of branches per plant, number of
pods per plant, root length, root fresh weight, root dry
weight, root volume, number of lateral roots and yield
per plant suggested these characters could be
transmitted to the progeny when hybridization would
be conducted and phenotypic based selection would
be effective.
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