GENETIC-PARAMETERS ESTIMATED IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF EXPERIMENTAL PLOTSIN SOYBEAN (GLYCINE-MAX (L) MERRILL)

Four types of experimental plots as follows: conventional lines, hills and mixture of equal amount of seeds of the genotypes Parana, Santa R osa, IAC-2, Bossier, Doko, UFV-1, UFV-2, UFV-4, UFV-5 e Sucupira, whic h were employed in this study, were evaluated considering the correlat ion coefficient, heritability and genetic gain. The characters plant h eight, first pod insertion, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, weight of one hundred seeds and yield were measured. For esti mating the genetic gain, a selection index of 30% of the best genotype s was considered. The results showed that higher values-for the two pa rameters were observed in the hill plots. On the other hand, lower val ues were detected in the genotypic mixture. Some equality among the va lues obtained in the conventional plots and in the lines was observed, suggesting that, based on this two parameters and also on the correla tions, lines can substitute the conventional plots when there are limi tations of seeds, room, time and labour.