Aim. The purpose of the research is to determine the manifestation of the feature “seed weight from a plant” (the, parental forms) and hybrids, to establish the level of variability behind the soybean varieties in the F2–F5 hybrid combinations, to determine the effectiveness of selections for productivity in terms of the “seed weight from a plant” indicator from the hybrid populations of the F2–F5. Methods. The field, selection and genetic, calculation and comparative methods of the research were used. The varieties that are different in terms of fecundity and origin, also hybrids F1 and hybrid populations F2–F5 were studied. Selections on the basis of the “seed weight from a plant” were carried out in the F2–F5 populations. Results. It has been established that in soy characteristic “seed mass from a plant” has significant genotypic variability and has significant differences in varieties of different groups of ripeness, which may be a prerequisite for predicting the effective selection for this factorial trait. A high correlation of this trait with seed yield was also established. The proportion of the families from the selections, that were carried out in the F3 populations, exceeded the seed yield standard and was in the range of 28.0–37.5%. In the second generation of hybrids the efficiency of selection was 1.5–2 times lower. Conclusions. The highest yield of high-yielding genotypes, reached by the “seed mass from a plant” indicator was obtained from the F3 populations. To create the new high-yielding soybean varieties with a 3.5–5.5 t/ha yield under irrigation conditions, it is promising to use in the crossings the variety samples which are contrastive by groups of ripeness and genetic pedigree.
Keywords: variety, soybean, hybrid, population, yield, irrigation.