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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. sp9 (2026): Recent Advances in Agriculture

Genetic variability and selection potential for yield and associated traits in soybean under semi-arid conditions

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.15925
Submitted
7 June 2026
Published
23-10-2026

Abstract

Soybean productivity depends on the availability of genetically diverse and stable sources for yield improvement, yet substantial genetic variation remains to be effectively exploited in breeding programmes. The present study evaluated 153 soybean genotypes to characterise genetic variability and identify traits and genotypes with potential for improving seed yield. The experiment was conducted during kharif 2024 and 2025 at Zonal Agricultural Research station, Morena, Madhya Pradesh, India, using an augmented block design. Ten quantitative traits encompassing phenology, plant architecture, yield components and productivity were evaluated. Analysis of variance revealed presence of highly significant genotypic differences for all the traits, confirming substantial genetic diversity in the germplasm. In pooled analysis, high genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation were observed for number of pods per plant (36.95 and 37.12 %), number of seeds per plant (37.66 and 37.80 %), seed yield (38.25 and 38.46 %), biological yield and number of primary branches per plant. Broad sense heritability was evident very high for all the traits (89.19–99.27 %), while high heritability coupled with higher genetic advance as percentage of mean was observed for seed yield (78.47 %), number of pods per plant (75.90 %), number of seeds per plant (77.41 %) and biological yield (72.14 %), indicating substantial exploitable genetic variation and good prospects for selection. Genotypes JS 21-72, RVSM-35, JS 20-79, JS 21-17, RVSM-2011-35 and JS 20-98 showed superior seed yield with favourable yield-component performance and may serve as promising material for further breeding evaluation. The identified variability and superior genotypes provide useful resources for developing high-yielding soybean cultivars.

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