Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2020) 9(5): 3070-3092 3070 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2020.905.365 Physiological and Biochemical Responses of Soybean to Post Anthesis Drought Stress Swati Saraswat 1 , Stuti Sharma*, Ajay Meena and R. Shiv Ramakrishna Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur - 482 004 (M.P.), India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Soybean is an important leguminous crop with high protein and oil contents widely used for human food, animal feed and biofuel production. Although, share of India in the world soybean area is 10 per cent, but its contribution is just only 4 per cent of the total world's production indicating its relatively low productivity as compared to world average (Bhatia et al., 2014). The golden bean is grown mostly by the marginal farmers under rainfed conditions in Madhya Pradesh. Being a rainfed crop, erratic monsoon, climatic changes and varied eco-edaphic conditions are the major constraints that limit it’s productivity. It has been observed in the International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 5 (2020) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com The present pot experiment was performed to assess the effect of post anthesis drought stress on physiological and biochemical parameters of soybean and to identify drought tolerant genotypes which can be used further in drought breeding programme. A set of 30 soybean genotypes were evaluated at post anthesis stage under stress and normal condition both to identify the tolerant genotype. Seven physiological parameters namely leaf area index, leaf area duration, crop growth rate, relative growth rate, net assimilation rate, relative water content and soil moisture content by tensiometer and seven biochemical parameter namely membrane stability index, total chlorophyll content, total carotenoid content, lipid peroxidation, proline content, SPAD chlorophyll meter reading (SCMR) and drought susceptibility index were calculated for screening the genotypes. On the basis of yield reduction percentage and drought susceptibility index the identified drought tolerant eight genotypes were JS 20-29, JS 20-98, JS 97-52, JS 21-17, JS 21-73, DAVIS, TGX 852-3D and CAT 2082. Keywords Soybean, Post anthesis drought, Drought susceptibility index, CGR, RGR, NAR, RWC Accepted: 26 April 2020 Available Online: 10 May 2020 Article Info