Prediction of genetic variability through AFLP- based measure of genetic distance in soybean

Molecular markers have been used to predict the genetic variance of segregating soybean populations by measuring the genetic distance between parents. For this purpose we analyzed the genetic distance among six pairwise combinations of four soybean lines grown in Southern Brazil. The AFLP-based distances (AFD) were estimated with 21 primer-pair combinations. Additive genetic variance (D) was estimated in 100 advanced inbred lines for each cross for seven traits, including grain yield, for four sowing dates, and four years. Results showed a low but significant overall correlation (r=0.21*) between grain yield variance and AFD in the average of the four years and sowing dates. Considering the sowing dates the highest correlation was in October (r=0.41*). Significant correlations were also found for five out of the remaining traits evaluated. We found no significant correlations between D and parentage coefficient for all traits evaluated, except for 100 seed weight (r=0.32*).