Improvement the yield and its components as response to selection in early generations of two crosses of Faba bean

THE PRESENT investigation was carried out at the experimental farm of Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Kafer El-sheikh-Agriculture Research Centre, Egypt, during four successive winter seasons i.e., 2019 / 2020, 2020 / 2021, 2021/2022 and 2022 / 2023 growing seasons. The objective of this investigation was to study the effectiveness of pedigree selection in early segregating population for improvement of seed yield / plant and its components in two faba bean crosses; (Misr1×Sakha4) and (Misr1×Giza843) through the F3, F4, and F5 generations. The obtained results could be summarized as follows; the mean squares of F3, F4 and F5 showed si Heritability broad and narrow senses values increased from F3 to F5 for all traits of selection for seed yield/plant significant differences among both crosses as well as the selected families for all the studied traits in both crosses. In the first cross (Misr1×Sakha4) all selected families in F5 generation surpassed the better parent for number of pods / plant, number of seeds / plant, 100 seeds weight and seed yield / plant., while the selected families number 3, 4, 20, 31, 35, 36 and 40 were earlier in flowering date compared to the earliest parent., With respect to the second cross (Misr 1 × Giza 843), all selected families in F5 generation out yielded the better parent for number of pods / plant, number of seeds / plant, 100 seeds weight and seed yield / plant, while the selected families number; 2,4, 5 and 8 were earlier in flowering date compared to the earliest parent, also they surpassed the better parent for number of branches / plant. It could be concluded that the pedigree selection method was efficient and could be used in breeding for improving seed yield and its components of faba bean.