Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(7): 2358-2363 2358 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.607.279 Seed Coat Permeability Studies in Wild and Cultivated Species of Soybean Subhash Chandra*, Raju R. Yadav, Shatakshi Poonia, Yashpal, Darasing R. Rathod, Ashish Kumar, S.K. Lal and A. Talukdar Division of Genetics, ICAR- Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Soybean is a major component in the diet of million people throughout the world. It plays vital role in nutritional security as it is a rich source of protein and oil. Although soybean is grown across the world, yet United States of America, Brazil, Argentina, China and India are the major producers. Taxonomically, the genus Glycine is divided into two sub- genera: Glycine (with perennial species) and Soja (with annual species). Sub- genus Soja includes the diploid species Glycine max (cultivated soybean) and Glycine soja (wild progenitor). Subgenus Glycine is currently consisting of 30 wild perennial species including Glycine tomentella, Glycine tabacina etc. (Singh et al., 2014). The typical cultivated soybean displays a bush-type growth habit with a stout primary stem and sparse branches, bearing large seeds with variable seed coat colors, whereas the wild type is a procumbent or climbing vine with a slender, many-branched stem bearing small, coarse black seeds. Soybean seeds are the important regenerative unit which cannot retain their viability indefinitely. Seed coat, the outer covering of every mature seed, is an important part of the International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 7 (2017) pp. 2358-2363 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] Seeds loose viability at a rapid pace under tropical and subtropical conditions. Poor seed longevity in cultivated soybean genotypes may associates with seed size, testa colour and seed coat permeability. Present study aims to understand kinetics of imbibation and evaluate the seed coat permeability in Glycine tomentella, Glycine soja and Glycine max. Out of all 125 genotypes of three species, 20 genotypes of wild annual and perennial species were small and hard seeded. All black seeded genotypes of three species including cultivated soybean were small in size, suggesting positive correlation of testa colour with seed size. There was strong positive correlation between 100 seed weight and seed coat permeability percentage based on 6 hours rapid imbibation test (0.83) and Seed coat permeability assessment in germination paper after 7 days (0.81). Kinetics of Imbibation suggest that G. max starts uptake water after some minutes, but seeds of G.tomentella imbibes water after 78 hours. Seed weight of G. soja genotype remained constant even after 4 days. Genotype of G. max (DS 9712) imbibes water up to 24 hours with steady linear curve, after that it becomes constant up to germination. Variability in seed coat permeability (44%) after 7 days slow imbibation in G. soja (DC 2008-1) suggests its use in introduction of optimum permeability behavior in G. max to slow down the extra leaching for improvement in seed longevity. Keywords Glycine, Imbibation, Seed coat permeability, SCP, Seed longevity. Accepted: 23 June 2017 Available Online: 10 July 2017 Article Info