The soybean cultivar characterization is important to distinguish a cultivar and to use efficiently all the genetic variability. The cultivar not well characterized difficults its identification in the field and its analyses in the laboratory. The legumes and seeds of 22 soybean cultivars indicated to Rio Grande do Sul (RS) were characterized with the objective of facilitating their identification. The seeds were suplyed by the FEPAGRO Research Station located in Júlio de Castilhos-RS, in the 1995/96 season. The legumes were characterized by the profile, form of the extremity, average length, legume and pubescence color, number of seeds and the percentage of legumes with 1,2 and 3 seeds. The seeds were characterized by the color and brightness of tegument, hilum color, size, peroxidase reaction and hypocotyl color. The studied characteristics changed with the cultivar indicating that the differences could be used only to complement the visual identification. The pubescense color of the legumes, hilum color and peroxidase reaction in seeds and hypocotyl color in seedling are the best characteristics to visual distinguish the soybean cultivars.
Glycine max; distinguish of cultivars; germoplasm
