Genetic divergence among soybean (Glycine max (L) Merrill) introductions in Ethiopia based on agronomic traits

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at two locations, Awassa and Gofa during 2006 main growing season. The objective of the experiment was to evaluate the genetic diversity among soybean germplasm introductions. Forty-nine soybean genotypes were sampled from the introduction populations and used for experimentation. Data were collected on plot basis for nine traits and from ten randomly sampled plants for the rest eight traits. Protein content was determined using micro Kjeldhal method whereas oil content was determined using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. Genetic parameters were estimated following the variance components. Genotypes were clustered following the Mahalanobis's D² distance between genotypes. Relatively high broad sense heritability was observed for plant height (0.42), days to flower (0.6), days to maturity (0.45), lodging (0.47) and shattering (0.4) indicating the existence of possibility for selection of varieties which are early, with short height to resist lodging. The clustering of genotypes based on 17 traits revealed the existence of variability among genotypes. The maximum inter cluster divergence was observed between genotypes under clusters IX and X hence, the genotypes grouped under these clusters could be used for crossing if yield superior varieties are planned in the hybrid development program.

Keywords: variance components, heritability, genetic advance, cluster