Microsatellite molecular markers in the cultivar identification of Brazilian soybean for human consumption

The objective of this research was to exploit the variability of 69 microsatellite marker loci in 18 soybean varieties (group I) to select 10 loci for routine cultivar identification. The selected loci were used to evaluate 32 varieties (group 11). In group I an average of 3.36 alleles per locus was observed of a total of 232 alleles and an average of 5.1 alleles per locus for the 32 varieties evaluated in group H. The mean distance values were 0.67 and 0.82 for group I and group 11, respectively. The 10 loci selected and evaluated in group H were the most effective to discriminate the genotypes and, therefore, recommended for the characterization of Brazilian soybean cultivars for human nutrition.