Genetic Differentiation of ARC Soybean [Glycine Max (L.) Merrill] Accessions Based on Agronomic and Nutritional Quality Traits

Soybean is one of the most important leguminous crops grown globally for food and feed. The study of genetic diversity is invaluable for efficient utilization, conservation and management of germplasm collections. The study aims at assessing genetic diversity present among the soybean genotypes using phenotypic markers. The restriction maximum likelihood revealed highly significant differences among the genotypes for eight quantitative traits. The principal component analysis revealed three most important PCs contributing 63.19%, 25.43% and 8.88% to the total variation of 97.5%, respectively. Seed yield was highly significant and highly correlated with seed number per plant, pod weight per plant, pod number per plant, and hundred seed weight but negatively correlated with seed number per pod. The hierarchical clustering revealed three major clusters with further sub-clusters. The accessions 2015/06/12, 69 S 10, PR 154-14, R 5-4-2 M, Hawkeye (USSR), and PR 145-2 were the most diverse. There were significant differences among the accessions based on nutritional quality traits such as oil, protein and stearic acid across the locations. The protein content varied from 29.1% to 35.6%, oil content varied from 10.6% to 20.7% whereas oleic acid and ash varied between 6.8% and 30.8%, and 4.3% and 8.2%, respectively. There was vast genetic diversity among the soybean genotypes. The presence of genetic diversity will aid breeders in selections and hybridization programmes for crop improvement.