Correlation between yield components in F6 soybean progenies derived from seven biparental crosses

Breeding programs strive to obtain cultivars with superior traits. The association between these characters, such as those estimated by correlation coeficients, are important to the breeding selection process. In this study we analyzed phenotypic and genotypic correlations between yield and other agronomic traits in soybean progenies derived from various crosses to support breeding line selection in the the soybean breading program of the Federal University of Uberlandia (UFU). The experiment was carried out in the 2011/2012 growing season at the Capim Branco research station in Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Seventy-one soybean lines were evaluated using a randomized complete block design with three replications. In these plots plants were evaluated for the number of pods, grain yield per plant, number of days for flowering, plant height at flowering, number of days for maturity, plant height at maturity, height of the first pod insertion, number of grains per pod and grain yield per plant. The estimates for genotypic correlations were equal or greater than those for the phenotypic correlations for all the evaluated traits. This suggests a small effect of environmental factors on the trait expression. An exception of this behavior was the correlation between plant height at flowering and plant height at maturity. In this case, although the signs for the genotypic and phenotypic correlations were the same, the value for the last was greater than that for the former.. The late flowering and late-maturing plants were taller. Also, selecting plants for higher number of pods ultimately contributed for the selection of plants with higher grain yield. The selection of late-flowering and late-maturing plants have yielded taller plantsin the same way that the selection for a higher pod number could promote the selection and improvement of grains yield trait.