Unveiling genetic diversity in soybean germplasm: A comprehensive snalysis through DUS characteristics

Morphological characterization and diversity estimation are essential in plant breeding. In this endeavour, the researcher performed a visual assessment of 17 phenotypic DUS listed traits of 100 soybean accession in Kharif 2019-2020. Seven traits were dimorphic, while ten traits were polymorphic. Shannon’s diversity indices were estimated using Microsoft excel. The index ranged from 0.06 to 1.72, with a mean value of 0.693. Seed peroxidase activity (g) obtained the highest value. Of the 100 accessions, few were unique as they could be distinguished based on a single trait, while the majority were very closely related. Cluster analysis revealed that the 100 accessions were grouped into four major clusters—similar genotypes concerning different traits clustered in the same clusters and vice versa.