Correlations and Path Coefficients for Yield Related Traits in Soybean Progenies

Background and Objective: Soybean breeding is striving to develop high yielding cultivars. Understanding of the association between yield and its components and the contribution of those yield components to yield is important to the breeding and selection process. This study sought to determine the correlations, the direct and indirect effects of yield components on grain yields in soybean progenies. Materials and Methods: Two soybean crosses at F 6 and F 7 generations were grown in field condition. The correlations and path coefficents of 8 measured traits, viz growth duration (days), plant height (cm), first pod insertion height (cm), ratio of first pod insertion height to plant height, total number of pods per plant, total number of seeds per plant, 100 seed weight (g) and grain yield per plant (g/plant) were computed. Results: There were consistencies of correlations across generations and higher direct and indirect effects in F 6 than in F 7 . Most direct effects were in agreement with correlations, indicating true associations. Significant positive correlations (r) and highly positive direct effects on grain yield were observed for total number of pods (r = 0.406-0.928), total number of seeds (r = 0.434-0.939) and 100 seed weight (r = 0.361-0.626) across generations and crosses. Ratio of first pod insertion height to plant height had significant indirect effects on yield via component traits. Conclusion: The selection strategy could be applied in early generations for significant yield components. Besides pod and seed related traits, ratio of first pod insertion height to plant height should also be considered for selection.