MORPHOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL IDENTIFICATION OF SOME SOYBEAN GENOTYPES

Abstract

Field and laboratory experiments were carried out at Gemmiza Experimental Research Station, Egypt, during the 2002 and 2003 growing seasons, to evaluate some morphological and biochemical characteristics of commercially released soyabean cultivars, namely Giza/21, Giza/35, Giza/111 and Crawford, and some promising genotypes, namely Hybrid 1/10, Hybrid 1/12, Hybrid/85, Hybrid 88/1, Hybrid 88/3, Hybrid 93, Giza/30 and Giza/32. Twelve soyabean genotypes were identified based on morphological differences in seed, seedling and adult plant, agronomic characters such as days from planting to flowering and maturity, yield and its components, and seed chemical composition and biochemical variability. Field observations indicated that some genotypes were indistinguishable from each other by using phenotypic and agronomic characteristics. Furthermore, genotypic differences in agronomic and chemical characteristics (protein, carbohydrate and fats) can be affected by environmental conditions prevailing in the field. DNA and protein banding pattern analyses were considered essential to distinguish soyabean genotypes.