Green Pod Yield and Architectural Traits of Selected Vegetable Soybean Genotypes Tadesse Mebrahtu,* Ali Mohamed, and Wondi Mersie Field experiments were conducted to determine vegetable soy- bean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] genotype x environment inter- actions and to correlate the architectural traits and green pod yield and its components. Seventeen vegetable soybean geno- types from maturity groups IV, V, and VI were planted in a randomized complete block design, with three replications. The architectural traits, green pod yield, and its components were determined at R5, R6, and R7 growth stages. The stage of har- vest was considered as main plot and genotype as sub-plot. Sig- nificant (P < 0.05) harvesting stage effect was observed for the traits studied except for mainstem internode length. The genotypic effect was also highly significant (P < 0.01) for num- ber of branches per plant, number of nodes per mainstem, num- ber of pods per plant, mainstem height, 100 pod weight, and green-pod yield. Year x genotype x stage of harvest interac- P.O. Box 318, Virginia State University, Petersburg, VA 23803. VSU Agric. Res. Stn. Journal Series no. 173. Received 15 Oct. 1990. "Corresponding author. The use of any trade names and/or vendors does not imply approval to the exclusion of the other products or ven- dors that may also be suitable. Published in J. Prod. Agric. 4:395-399 (1991). tions were significant (P < 0.05) for the traits number of nodes per branch, mainstem height, and 100 pod weight. These inter- actions showed that the procedure for the selection of soybean genotypes with high green pod yield is influenced by year and stage of harvest. The results also showed that the two yield com- ponents, 100 pod weight, number of pods per plant, and one of the architectural traits, mainstem height, are more effective in selecting high green pod yield genotypes in vegetable soy- bean. Furthermore, this study indicated that Pis 416982 and 417288 (large-seeded types) and 423759 (a small-seeded type) could be source of genetic materials for increasing green pod yield through hybridization. V EGETABLE SOYBEAN genotypes generally fall into two categories, large-seeded and small-seeded. The large-seeded garden types are used for the fresh market in urban areas with large Oriental populations, whereas small-seeded types are generally used for sprouts (Anon, 1987). Vegetable soybean is already popular as a food source in the Orient. In Japan, soybean is served in the J. Prod. Agric., Vol. 4, no. 3, 1991 395 Published April 19, 2013