Abstract
Germplasm collections of small-seeded soybean involving 45 genotypes, representing a broad spectrum of variability available in the traditional areas of its cultivation in India, were subjected to Mahalanobis's D2 and canonical analysis for assessing the nature and degree of intra-specific divergence. Based on 16 characters, the entire collection was grouped in eight clusters. The investigation brought out the presence of substantial genetic diversity for important components of fitness among and within the geographical regions. The disposition of small-seeded soybean populations from various sources into different constellations did not follow any consistent pattern in relation to geographic diversity. Days to flowering and maturity, plant height, branches plant-1 and seeds pod-1 were important characters in differentiation among the germplasm entries from different geographical regions. The implications of these studies on future breeding strategies to be adopted for elevating the overall productivity levels of small-seeded soybean are suggested.
