Soybean is an economically important crop that provides oil and high-quality protein. In Burkina Faso, soybean is one of the promising crops identified in the framework of the strategy for the development of agricultural sectors. However, very few improved varieties have been developed. The identification of newly improved varieties with high agronomic potential and adapted to the climatic conditions will strengthen soybean production in the country. The objective of this study was to evaluate the agronomic performance of 24 soybean genotypes at the Farako-Bâ Research Station in the Sudanian zone of Burkina Faso. The experimental design was an alpha lattice arranged in a 50 cm × 5 cm with 3 replications. The results of this research revealed significant differences (p <0.05) among genotypes with reference to days to flowering, days to maturity, number of nodules, plant height, pod clearance, number of pods, pod shattering, hundred seed weight and number of nodes. Nodules score and diameter, number of branches and grain yield were non-significant. Based on agronomical traits, three genotype groups were clustered. Clusters 1 consisted of the high grain yield groups with the genotypes TGX2017-5E (2083.33 kg/ha), TGX1993-4FN (1666.67 kg/ha), TGX2017-6E (1666.67 kg/ha) and TGX2016-4E (1583.33 kg/ha), being the highest yielding.

Soybean is one of the promising food crops and feeds which contributes significantly to the development of agriculture in Burkina Faso. However, very few improved soybean varieties have been developed in the country. The introduction of new genotypes with high agronomic potential and adapted to the climatic conditions of the Sudanian zone of Burkina Faso will boost soybean production in the region. Twenty-four (24) newly introduced soybean genotypes were evaluated for their agromorphological and adaptation characteristics in the Sudanian zone of Burkina Faso. The variability parameters such as genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation, broad sense heritability, and expected genetic advance were estimated for 14 agromorphological characters. The experimental design used in this study was an alpha lattice with 3 replications. Planting was done following a spacing of 50 cm (inter-row) × 5 cm (within row). Analysis of variance revealed significant difference ( P < 0.001 ; P < 0.05 ) for all characters studied except the nodule diameter, nodule score, and grain yield. The values of the phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) were higher than genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all the characters indicating the influence of environmental factors. The highest GCV and PVC values were found in the number of nodules (70.07% and 77.26%), number of seeds per plant (41.34% and 44.18%), and number of pods per plant (29.27% and 33.50%), respectively. High estimates of heritability coupled with high genetic advance expressed as a percentage of mean were observed for 10 of the 14 traits, suggesting an important expected genetic gain allowing more success in selection.