Genome size and maturity group in Glycine max (soybean)

Recent literature data indicate a 1.15-fold difference in genome size between certain cultivars of soybean and a positive correlation of genome size and maturity group. The present analysis aims at a reinvestigation of these cultivars using DAPI and ethidium bromide flow cytometry and Feulgen densitometry. No reproducible genome size differences were found between these cultivars with either technique, and correlation with maturity group was not confirmed. The previously claimed statistical significance of such a correlation was found to result from only one exceedingly low DNA value of an early maturing cultivar, which, according to our data, is not different from the others.