Genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill]

Sixty one genotypes of soybean were evaluated to determine genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance for 15 contributing characters. The analysis of variance revealed significant variations for all characters. The estimates of phenotypic (PCV) and genotypic (GCV) coefficients of variation indicated that the values of PCV were higher than that of GCV, but the differences were closer between these two estimates for all the traits. This indicated that expression of characters under study was less influenced due to environmental factors. The high values of GCV and PCV were observed for number of clusters per plant, seed yield per plant, biological yield per plant, number of pods per plant and plant height indicating presence of sufficient genetic variability for selection in these traits. High heritability accompanied by high genetic advance for plant height, number of clusters per plant, number of primary branches per plant, seed yield per plant, biological yield per plant and number of pods per plant suggested selection could be effective for these traits.