STUDIES ON THE INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YIELD AND AGRONOMIC TRAITS IN SOME SELECTED SOYBEAN LINES AT YANDEV IN SOUTHERN GUINEA SAVANNAH OF NIGERIA

Abstract

A field trial was conducted during the 2010 cropping season at the experimental farm of Akperan Orshi College of Agriculture, Yandev–Gboko, Benue State. The plots were laid in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The analysis of variance showed significant in difference in nodule dry weight; days to 50% flowering; days to maturity; plant height at maturity; number of branches; number of pods per plant; number of seeds/ plant; and weight of 100 seeds among the genotypes studied. The result of this experiment conducted showed that there were highly significant correlation on number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, and significant correlation of one hundred seed with seed yield. The results of the path coefficient analysis also showed that number of pods per plant exerted the highest direct effect on seed yield. Weight (g) of one hundred seeds showed the least direct effect among the traits evaluated. The regression on seed yield and its component character also showed that number of pods per plant had the highest contribution to seed yield with the proportion due to regression being 48%. The relative contribution of number of branches per plant to seed yield was 2%.