Correlation Studies of Quantitative and Qualitative Traits in Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill)

Study of correlation in 28 (21 F_ts + 7 parents) genotypes of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) for 22 quantitative and qualitative traits indicated that seed yield had significant positive association with pods/plant, primary branches/plant, dry matter weight /plant and 100-seed weight, while basal pod height showed highly significant and negative association with seed yield. A very strong negative correlation of protein content with oil content was observed, while it's showed significant positive association with linoleic acid. Most of the characters showed opposite direction association with oil content as shown by protein content. Oleic acid showed significant negative association with palmitic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid, whereas linolinic acid significantly positively associated with stearic acid. Hence, the studies reveled the importance of pods/plant, primary branches/ plant, dry matter weight/plant, nodes/plant and 100-seed weight as selection criteria for improvement of seed yield in soybean.