Analysis of direct and indirect selection and indices in soybean segregating populations

Abstract

Estimates of gain with selection are very useful in breeding programs to predict the success of selection. Indexbasedsimultaneous selection makes breeding more successful. The objective of this report was to estimate and compare thegenetic gain obtained by direct and indirect selection and using the classical and based on desired gain indices. The experiment wasset up in the design of families with intercalated checks with 293 F3 soybean genotypes, distributed in 32 families derived fromfive crosses. Individual gains obtained with direct selection among and within families and mass selection were similar andin most cases higher than selection by indices. On the other hand, the highest total gains were obtained with selection indicesand distributed across all traits. The classical index obtained the highest genetic gains.

Keywords

• Glycine max
• selection indices
• expected gain
• selection among and within families