Identification of Soybean Cultivars Using Biochemical and Morphological Characteristics at Seed and Seedling Stage

Seventy five cultivars of soybean were characterized for seed storage proteins, amylase isozymes, seed coat peroxidase, hypocotyl pigmentation. All the cultivars were first classified into twelve major groups based on visual charactensttcs viz. seed coat colour, hilum colour and seed coat lustre. These groups were further classified based on seed coat peroxidase reaction, hypocotyl pigmentation, amylase isozymes and seed storage protein, generating 73 groups. Thus, most of the cultivars could be uniquely identified based upon seed and seedling characteristics. Only four cultivars viz. JS2, Punjab!, MACS13 and MADS71 fell into two groups each consisting of two cultivars.