Phenotypic Diversity among 575 Cultivated Soybean Landraces Collected from Different Provinces in Korea: A Multivariate Analysis

Phenotypic Diversity among 575 Cultivated Soybean Landraces Collected from Different Provinces in Korea: A Multivariate Analysis

This study investigated 575 cultivated soybean landraces from different provinces in Korea, using 17 key agromorphological traits. The studied soybeans showed wide variations in both qualitative and quantitative traits, signifying the existence of genetic diversity. The standardized Shannon-Weaver index (H') ranged from 0.3 to 1.0, with seed-related traits having an H' value higher than 0.7. Similarly, quantitative traits showed significant variation, with the coefficient of variation ranging from 7.2% for days to maturity (DM) to 62.3% for the number of pods per plant (PPP). In terms of province, the Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gyeongsangnam-do accessions differed from the other accessions, with higher proportions of green and yellow seed coats and lower proportion of black hilums. Gyeongsangnam-do accessions also showed early maturation and flowering but had the lowest average one-hundred seeds weight (HSW). In contrast, Jeollanam-do accessions flowered and matured late but had the highest average seed weight per plant (SWPP). Hierarchical cluster analysis grouped the soybeans into 12 clusters, and further statistical analysis showed significant variations in all quantitative traits (p < 0.05). Principal component analysis grouped the accessions based on the clusters. DM, PPP, HSW, and SWPP were identified as major contributors to the observed variance along the axes of the first two principal components. Correlation analysis revealed significant associations between maturity and yield-related traits. Based on their relative performance, 37 promising accessions were identified. Overall, this study highlights the diversity of recently cultivated Korean soybean landraces and provides opportunities for future metabolomic and genomic studies.