Selection of drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive lines (Glycine max) using PCA

In a study to select sensitive and tolerant soybean lines to drought stress and superior genotypes, 80 soybean lines were obtained from crosses of Karbin × Fora cultivars along with L.17 cultivar as control in the Lurestan-Saraab Research Farm during crop rotation 2016-2017. The cultivars were evaluated in the form of a lattice design 9×9 with two replications. The results of the analysis of variance showed significant differences between the control and experimental lines and also between the blocks for different traits. According to the results of stepwise regression and principal component analysis (PCA), traits were grouped into four components, accounting for about 62% of the total variation. The evaluation of grain yield potential and accurate PCA evaluation of the traits led to the selection of superior lines in the experiment. Results showed that plant height, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, and 100-seed weight can be used as the criteria for selection of soybean crops to improve seed yield in drought stress condition.