Vol. 7, Issue 9, Part J (2025)

Drought is one of the major constraints affecting soybean yield stability. This study evaluated drought-response variation by combining field phenotyping under restricted irrigation with analysis of segregating populations. A total of 248 segregants (F₃: 106; F₄: 142) from seven biparental crosses, along with 13 F₅ advanced lines, were assessed for canopy temperature (CT), chlorophyll content (SPAD), relative leaf water content (RWC), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), hundred-seed weight (HSW), and days to maturity. Results revealed substantial variation: several progenies showed transgressive segregation for NDVI, SPAD, and RWC.