Genetic diversity and soybean sprout-related traits were evaluated in a total of 72 soybean accessions (60 Glycine max, 7 Glycine soja, and 5 Glycine gracilis). 100-seed weight (SW) was greatly varied and ranged from 3.2g to 32.3g in 72 soybean accessions. Positive correlation was observed between GR and hypocotyl length (HL), whereas negative correlation was observed between SW and hypocotyl diameter (HD). Re-evaluation by discarding two soybean genotypes characterized with low GR indicated that much higher correlation of sprout yield (SY) with HD and SW. Based on the principal component analysis (PCA) for sprout-related traits, 57 accessions were classified. Soybean genotypes with better traits for sprout, such as small size of seeds and high SY, were characterized with high PCA 1 and PCA 2 values. The seed size in second is small but showed low GR and SY, whereas the third has large seed, high GR and more than 400% SY. In genetic similarity analysis using 60 SSR marker genotyping, 72 accessions were classified into three major and several minor groups. Nine of twelve accessions that were identified as the representatives of soybean for sprout based on PCA were in a group by the SSR marker analysis, indicating the SSR marker selection of parental genotypes for soybean sprout improvement program.

Genetic diversity of 31 rice varieties including 25 japonica and 6 indica varieties was evaluated using a combination of 19 microsatellite or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and 28 random decamer oligonucle-otide primers. All 19 microsatellite primer sets representing 19 loci in the rice genome showed polymorphisms among the 31 varieties and revealed 91 alleles with an average of 4.80 bands per primer. Also all 28 random decamer primers used were informative and generated 114 non-redundant bands with a mean of 4.07 bands. Microsatellite markers detected higher number of alleles than random primers .although the mean difference was not statistically significant. A cluster analysis based on Nei＇s genetic distances calculated from the 205 bands resolved the 31 varieties into two major groups that correspond to indica and japonica subspecies, which is consistent with the genealogical information. As few as six random decamer primers or a combination of one microsatellite and four random decamer primers were sufficient to uniquely differentiate all 31 varieties. These combinations would be potentially useful in rice variety protection and identification considering that 25 out of 31 varieties used in this study are japonica rices with high grain quality and have close make up.