Many soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] growers in the midsouthern USA have i
n recent years shifted to an early-season production system. Germination of
seed produced in this system is often low. Little is known about genetic v
ariation in early-maturing soybean for seed quality traits. The purpose of
this study was to investigate the effect of early maturity on germinability
in several soybean breeding populations, and identify parents that may con
fer improved seed quality on progeny, Nine soybean breeding populations wer
e developed providing a total of 630 FZ derived lines. Seed from these line
s were sown in April (early) in 1995 and 1996 at Stoneville. Maturity date
was recorded for each line and seed were harvested less than 1 week after r
eaching maturity, Standard germination tests were performed on each line. T
here was a small positive correlation in 1995 (r = 0.34), and 1996 (r = 0.3
1) between germination and maturity date, i.e., later lines generally had b
etter germination and populations differed in germination means indicating
the existence of genotypic differences in seed quality. Among the 84 earlie
st-maturing lines in the study, 9 had germinations greater than 80% in both
years, suggesting potential for Improvement of this trait. (C) 1999 Publis
hed by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.