EVALUATION OF BLACK SEEDED SOYBEAN GENOTYPES FOR YIELD AND YIELD RELATED TRAITS AT JIMMA, SOUTH WESTERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Soybean is versatile crop and becoming the most important oil crop in Ethiopia. Soybean can be
classified into different group based on the color. Black soybean is the most preferred ones due
to the nutritional and economical values. To date in Ethiopia a total of 26 yellow seeded
soybean varieties are under production. Evaluating the performance of black soybean genotypes
has paramount importance. The trial was conducted with 64 black seeded soybean genotypes in
the year 2019 main cropping season at Jimma, South Western parts of Ethiopia. The
experimental design used wastriple lattice. The data collected include; days to flowering, days
to maturity, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, hundred seed weight, rust
,common bacterial blight ,lodging score and grain yield. The statistical analysis showed
significant differences at (P<0.05) among the varieties for all parameters. Mean grain yield
ranged from 0.5 t/ha (T2-EL-LG-90-JM17-F4) to 2.59 (T2-EL-LG-90-JM17-B6) t/ha. Out of
the total tested soybean genotypes 47 black seeded soybean genotypes produced a better grain
yield than the most adapted check variety, Clark 63k. On the other hand, 17 genotypes produced
better than the second check variety, Coker - 240. The research result indicates as there is a
possibility of developing black seeded soybean varieties for production. Consequently, it is
recommended to advance promising black seeded soybean genotypes for further test.