Studies on genetic diversity in elite soybean genotypes

High yielding 66 elite soybean genotypes selected from 4C1 germplasm accessions were subjected to genetic divergence study. These genotypes fell into 10 clusters out of which one was monogenotypic. Indigenous genetic material IC-118429 alongwith genotypes AMS-MB-5-19, AMS-248 and H₅P₂₃ has been identified as the most potential parent for hybridization programme. Among the seven characters, number of pods per plant contributed maximum to the genetic divergence, followed by number of branches per plant. This indicated that these characters were mainly responsible for genetic divergence. The highest divergence was observed between clusters I and VIII followed by clusters I and VII, clusters III and VII and clusters III and VIII which may serve as potential parents for hybridization programme. The average cluster means for different characters showed that the genotype AMS-MB-5-19 had maximum mean values for seed yield and number of primary branches. Thus, AMS-MB-5-19 showed promise as a potential parent to obtain desirable progenies and create further variability for these characters. The potential combination based on the D² statistics was found to be AMS-MB-5-19 x AMS-248, AMS-MB-5-19 x H₅P₂₃, AMS-MB-5-28 x H₅P₂₃, AMS-MB-5-28 x AMS-248, AMS-MB-5-19 x H₆P₅, H₆P₅ x IC-118482 and AMS-MB-5-19 x IC-118429. These combinations may result in maximum hybrid vigour and highest number of useful segregants.