Note on variation in germinability among early-maturing soybean populations

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.