During Kharif 2019, at the Seed Breeding Farm, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, JNKVV, Jabalpur, forty-eight exotic genotypes of soybean, including two national checks, were characterized using the DUS (Distinctness, Uniformity, and Stability) traits as prescribed by National DUS test guidelines. At various phases, observations were made on the leaves, stems, flowers, seeds, and pods of plants. For the most part, there was a lot of variation in the qualities evaluated. The findings demonstrated that soybean germplasm has a wide range of features and that the genotypes gathered had a lot of morphological variation, which may assist a breeder to improve the plant's genetic foundation. This will be extremely helpful in identifying and conserving genotypes for identification on the basis of distinguishing morphological characters and help to develop ideal plant type.

Morphological Characterization, DUS test, Exotic Lines, soybean.

Genetic resources offer the foundation for selection and development via breeding to meet the world's constantly growing population's food security demands. Systematic characterization, on the other hand, leads to more efficient use of the material in the soybean improvement programme. Large variation in seed colour present in the germplasm has a high market price and high profitability to farmers. After determining the stability and heritability of the features, genotypes with this morphology can be chosen as a donor in the crossing procedure.

Piyush Upadhyay, M.K. Shrivastava, Stuti Sharma, Sunny Thakur and Kumar Jai Anand (2022). Morphological Characterization of Exotic Lines of Soybean (Glycine Max (L.) Merrill) for Developing Ideotype. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(2): 546-551.