Selection of Soybean Genotypes under Different Amounts of Sulfur Using Multivariate Statistical Methods

In order to selection of soybean genotypes under different amounts of sulfur, 30 soybean genotypes were evaluated at three levels of sulfur (control, 5 and 10 g/Kg soils) concentration of sulfur was 98 % and it was added as 0, 0.1 and 0.2 % of evaluated soils. The experiment was lay out as a factorial arrengment in a randomized complete block design with three replications at Sari Agricultural Science and Natural Resources University in 2016. Evaluated traits included height of main branch, height of first sub branch, number of main branch pods, number of sub branch pods, 100 seed weight, total chlorophyll content, chlorophyll a content, chlorophyll b content, carotenoid content, sulfur content, Oil percentage, protein percentage and grain yield per plant. The results of analysis of variance of studied traits showed that sulfur application has a significant effect (P<0.01) on the studied traits. According to the results of means comparisons, the highest amounts of oil and protein percentage were obtained in Dayr and Williams genotypes at the third level of sulfur. The highest and lowest grain weights were observed in Hill and Vabash genotypes in the second level of sulfur, respectively. The results of the cluster analysis using Ward method, divided the soybean genotypes into two distinct groups. The genotypes were grouped using principal component analysis and biplot, too. According to the results of the cluster analysis, genotypes of the first group, which had high mean for the studied traits, were selected. Therefore, these genotypes can be used to select high-yielding genotypes and desirable agronomic traits that have the ability to absorb more sulfur in future breeding programs.