Combining ability analysis for selected green pod yield components of vegetable soybean genotypes (Glycine max)

Abstract Few studies have evaluated vegetable soybean (Glycine max) for green pod yield components. Information on combining ability and the type of gene action that governs the inheritance of economically important quantitative characters can help breeders to select suitable parents and devise an appropriate breeding strategy. Ten vegetable soybean accessions were crossed in a complete diallel mating design. This study showed that estimates of both the combining ability (general and specific), and reciprocal variances were significant for plant height, hundred pod weight, and pod dimensions (pod length, pod width, and pod thickness). The performances of the parents for the green pod yield components studied were highly associated with their general combining ability effects. Four parents— ‘Kanrich’, ‘Pella’, V81–1603, and PI 399055, were good general combiners for hundred pod weight and thus could be used in breeding programmes to develop genotypes with large pod size.