Genetic Variability, Heritability and Expected Genetic Advance as Indices for Selection in Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] Varieties

Genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance under selection studies were conducted at Assosa on 49 soybean genotypes. A field study laid out in 7x7 simple lattice design with two replications at Assosa Agricultural Research Center with the objective of estimating genetic variability, heritability, expected genetic advance, and to estimate genetic divergence, thereby, to cluster the test genotypes in to genetically divergent classes. The result of this study indicated variations for all the traits evaluated. The highest heritability value was recorded for days to 50% flowering followed by days to maturity and days to pod setting. Wide range of mean values was observed in all the characters evaluated. This indicates that the characters can be improved through selection. Divergence analysis grouped the 49 soybean genotypes into three. The principal component analysis revealed that five principal components PC1 to PC5 with Eigen values 4.27, 2.53, 1.91, 1.28 and 1.08 respectively, have accounted for 73.81% of the total variation