Evaluation of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merill] germplasm for seed yield and earliness

Abstract

500 germplasm accessions of soybean received from Indian Institute of Soybean Research, Indore were evaluated for plant height, seed yield, days to 50% flowering, plant height, number of pods/plant and 100-grain weight along with checks rabi 2018 in a augmented design. Among the 500 accessions evaluated, Soy93 recorded significantly higher seed yield (5211 kg/ha) over the checks KBS23 (4750 kg/ha.) and JS335 (4638 kg/ha) followed by Soy214 (4791kg/ha.). The accession Soy56 recorded38 days for days to 50% flowering followed by Soy346, Soy347 and Soy485 (40 days) and Soy181 (41 days). Plant height ranged from 15.8 cm (Soy56) to 112.4cm (Soy493). Two accessions viz., Soy267 and Soy200 (111) recorded highest number of pods/plant followed by Soy222 (106), Soy214 (105) and Soy323 (102). Hundred seed weight ranged from 7 g (Soy103, Soy209) to 27.6 g (Soy125). Two accessions, Soy222 and Soy214 were found to be superior for seed yield as well as number of pods/plant. These genotypes can be used in the hybridization programme for the development of early maturing and high yielding varieties.