Assessment of Yield and Yield Components of Soya-Bean (Glycine Max (L.) Merril) Grown Under Conventional Agronomic Practices of Lesotho

Abstract

An experiment on soya-bean cultivars was conducted in Lesotho at The National University of Lesotho, Roma, with the objectives of (i) establishing the differences among the soya-bean cultivars in terms of growth and yield parameters measured (ii) to estimate the regression coefficients for yield components (iii) determining correlation among traits that influence yield of soya-bean. Field plot experiment was laid-out in a completely randomized block design with 28 treatments and three replications. Data collected were 100 grain weight, plant height, number of pods per plant, leaflets size and leaflet shape. Data were subjected to analysis of variance, multiple linear regression and person’s correlation of coefficient. Results of analysis of variance revealed highly significant difference (P<0.001) among soya-bean cultivars for plant height, weight per plot and weight of 100 grains, while no significant differences were observed among leaf shape, number of pots per plant and leaf size. Regression analysis showed a highly significant (P<0.01) regression, implying that plant height contributed immensely on the yield of soya-beans followed by leaflets shape. Correlations among most parameters were high and few parameters were moderately correlated.