Morphological and electrophoretical characterization of twenty soybean cultivars

Abstract

The objectives of this research were: a) to adjust and set patterns for a method to differentiate soybean cultivars (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) through seed protein electrophoresis; b) to perform the electrophoretic bands of the cultivars under study; and c) morphological characterization of seed and seedlings of the cultivars under study. Twenty commercial cultivars from Uruguay and from the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, were planted in the field, in two seeding dates, and their traits and morphological descriptions performed. Samples of plants were harvested and threshed separately and their seeds were taken to the laboratory to have their external traits described and to be submitted to electrophoretic analysis. Under the conditions of the experiment, the results allowed the following conclusions: a) the seed descriptors "seed form" and "tegument luster", have only a complementary value in the characterization of soybean cultivars; b) better resolution and separation of electrophoretic bands was obtained when powder gelatin was used to homogenize the samples, or when sucrose or starch were used to prepare polyacrylamide gels; and c) the electrophoresis is a reliable method bearing hish potential to be used to describe soybean cultivars, or to be employed for other polymorphic enzymes and techniques.