Assessment of efficiency of breeding methods using molecular markers in soybean

Four breeding methods viz. pedigree method (PM), single pod descent (SPD), single pod descent with selection (SPDS) and bulk method (BM) were compared for maintaining variability in the population in advanced generations using simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. The F4:7 lines advanced through different breeding methods from six different crosses were evaluated for number of unique lines retained in each method at a similarity coefficient ? 0.875. Eighteen polymorphic SSR markers were used for estimating similarity coefficient between lines within a breeding method in each cross. In all the crosses, SPD method was the best method in producing unique lines with a range from 42.9 to 100 per cent. SPD method had also the least number of lines pairing with two or more lines. PM and BM had the least number of unique lines in three crosses each and also maximum proportion of lines produced by these two methods were paired with four or more lines. Thus, SPD method was the most efficient among these four methods in retaining the variability in a population, but the breeder has to make a choice between high variability and comparative harvest and seed processing efficiencies to select the most suitable breeding method.