Bhagat, Y.S.Waghole, Gayatri Sambhaji2022-09-082022-09-082021-08-3121521https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810187434Soybean(GlycinemaxL.)isconsideredasoneofthemostnourishingfoodduetoitshighproteincontentwhichalsomeetsrequirementsofalltheessential amino acid to support normal growth and development of individuals. It alsoofferseconomic empowermenttothefarmersdue toits usesfar beyondfood andfeed. Thus, it is important to identify soybean genotypes with superior characters forpre-breeding activities. This study focused on assessing the phenotypic variability andgeneticdiversityofsoybeangenotypesusingproductivitytraitsandmolecularmarkers. Ten soybean genotypes exhibited significant differences for productivitytraits viz., days required for flowering, days to maturity, plant height, number of podsper plant and test weight. The number of days required for flowering was significantlylesser in genotype, AMS 2014-1. It is also identified for higher plant height andmaximumnumberofpodsperplant.Thegenotype,JS93-05wasobservedforitsearlymaturity.Thissuggeststheabovesoybeangenotypescouldbepotentiallyusedin soybean breeding activities. The soybean genotypes were genotyped with SSRmarkersinordertorevealgeneticdiversity.Thehighpolymorphiccontentwasreportedthatrangedfrom0.50to0.85.Thegeneticsimilaritycoefficientbetweenten Key words: Soybean, productivity traits, molecular markers, genetic diversity soybean genotypes was ranged in between 0.34 to 1.00. Highest genetic similarity(1.00) was found between AMS 2014-3 and MACS-1676, whereas lowest geneticsimilarity (0.34) was found between AMS 2016-1 and MACS 1701. Cluster analysisrevealed ten soybean genotypes were separated into four main clusters indicating theirdiversity. This study identified superior genotype i.e. AMS 2014-1 for yield and yieldattributingtraitsprovidingbetteropportunitiesfordevelopinghighseedyieldingcultivars in future breeding programme. The SSR markers used in this study would beveryusefulforsoybeangermplasmanalysis,populationgeneticstructureandphylogeneticrelationships.EnglishThesis