Variation in Oil Concentration and Agronomic Performances of Soybean Accessions at Chitwan, Nepal

A field experiment was conducted at the agronomy block of National Cattle Research Program, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal during the soybean growing season of fiscal year 2015. The objective of this study was to analyze oil concentration of soybean seed and also evaluate the yield performance and its correlation to yield components. Layout of field was carried out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) within three replications and comprised of 15 accessions. Laboratory analysis for oil concentration was done in the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, Kathmandu by Soxhlet apparatus. There was significant variation in oil concentration found among the test accessions. The highest average oil concentration was found in TGX1990- 110FN (17.95%) followed by TGX1989-68FN (17.41%) and TGX1990-106FN (17.31%) while the highest yield was produced by IITA accession TGX1990-52F (4.30t/ha) followed by TGX1989-48FN (3.87t/ha) and TGX1989-45F (3.74t/ha). Correlation between the different yield attributing traits like days to 50% flowering, days to pod setting, days to maturity, plant height, seeds per ten pods, nodes per plant, number of branches and hundred seed weight with the yield was observed. The result showed the significant positive correlation towards the yield. Based on the above mentioned traits and the ranges of oil concentration can be given prime importance to enhance the breeding programs.