Abstract

The history of mutations with early results in soybean has been well documented in the literature available. Mutation breeding has been used in recent years as a valuable supplement to other methods of plant breeding in generating new variability and development of crop varieties with new architecture, superior biochemical constitution and suitable growth and developmental rhythms. The utility of this method is evident from the fact that in several crops induced mutants have been released as new varieties. In this paper, efforts have been made to review the literature on induced mutations in soybean. The different mutagenic agents used for inducing mutations, effects of different mutagenic agents on yield, quality contributing characters and resistance to different diseases have been described.

Key words: Glycine max (L.) Merrill, induced mutagenesis, crop varieties.