Characteristics of flowering and pod set in wild and cultivated types of soybean

Abstract

Characteristics of flowering and pod set were compared between wild and cultivated types of soybean grown in pots (1/5000 a) in a vinyl house. The wild type had 10-fold more nodes than the cultivated type. The flowering habit of the wild type was similar to that of the indeterminate type. The wild type developed 10-fold more flowers than the cultivated type, but set relatively few pods. During the process of domestication from wild to cultivated type, i) the pole climbing characteristic disappeared and development of branches and racemes with compound leaves was repressed, resulting in a decreased number of nodes, ii) flower production decreased and the rate of pod set increased markedly, and iii) the number of pods decreased, but seed size became bigger.