Family and Line Selection for Seed Yield of Soybean

Abstract

Plant‐row‐yield tests (PRYT) are used by soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] breeders for the initial evaluation of experimental lines. The highest yielding lines in the PRYT are advanced for additional testing in replicated tests. The objective of this study was to determine the reliability of selection for seed yield in unreplicated plots by the family and line methods of selection. Four F3‐derived lines from each of 21 F2 families from four populations were grown in a PRYT during 1995 and in replicated tests at four environments in 1996. For the family method, the mean seed yield of the four F3‐derived lines of each F2 family was used to identify superior families from which to select individual lines. For the line method, lines were selected without regard to the family structure. The seed yield of the selected and unselected lines on the basis of data from the PRYT was compared with their mean seed yield in the 1996 environments. The total number of lines selected by the family method was less than for the line method in all populations. The percentage of selected lines that were correctly classified was similar for both methods. There was a greater percentage of lines incorrectly rejected by the family method than by the line method. The use of replication at an individual location did not improve the selection of lines by the family or line methods of selection. For the selection of lines for seed yield in unreplicated plots, breeding methods that rely on family performance would not be more effective or efficient than methods that ignore family structure. To obtain lines for yield tests at multiple locations, selection of lines by the line method on the basis of their performance in a PRYT would be better than the use of random lines.

Resource Allocation to Select for Yield in Soybean

“…Hegstad et al (1999) reported that when soybean lines were evaluated for yield using only one replicate at a single site, the highest‐yielding one‐third of the lines yielded more in validation environments than the lowest‐yielding two‐thirds of the lines. Streit et al (2001) stated that yield of soybean lines selected, based on one or two replicates of a single row 108‐cm long, was not significantly better than random selection. When selection was conducted at individual locations with two‐row plots 3.7 m long, the use of one replicate was as effective as two replicates.…”