International Journal of Plant & Soil Science

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill)  is the only oilseed crop having richest source of quality protein (~ 40%) apart from 20% edible and having share of 22 % edible oil requirement of the country. The present study was carried out to estimate the important genetic parameters such as genotypic coefficient of variance (GCV), phenotypic coefficient of variance (PCV), heritability (h²) and expected genetic advance (EGA).Thirty-five soybean genotypes collected from different centers of the country were studied for nine yield, yield contributing and morphological characters at All India Coordinated Research Project on Soybean during kharif ,2013. The analysis of variance revealed that the sufficient variability was present in the material for all the characters. The value of phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) is greater than genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV). The high GCV and PCV were observed for number of pods per plant, number of branches per plant, seed yield per plant and plant height. High heritability estimates coupled with high expected genetic advance were observed for the characters seed yield per plant, number of pods per plant, number of branches per plant and plant height indicating the presence of additive gene action. Therefore, more emphasis should be focused on these traits during selection for genetic improvement of soybean.