Vegetable soybean (Glycine max), also known as edamame, is a specialty soybean that is harvested at R6 growth stage. Vegetable soybean has steadily increased in acreage and market demand although it is relatively new to North America. It is of significance to develop new cultivars that are more adapted to local environment and crop management system to promote specialty crop production and meet the market requirements. In this study, 14 genotypes of vegetable soybean, including 10 breeding lines and 4 check cultivars, were evaluated during 2020-2023 for potential uses as edamame. There were significant differences among genotypes in both fresh pod and mature seed yields, agronomic and seed composition traits investigated. The year effects and genotype x year interactions were also significant in most cases. Fresh pod yield averaged 11,227.5 kg ha-1, ranging 9,800.1 – 13,154.3 kg ha-1, and mature seed yield averaged 2,814.7 kg ha-1, ranging 2,029.2 – 3,175.2 kg ha-1. The average 100-seed weight of 14 genotypes was 26.9 g, ranging 23.1 – 30.1 g. Maturity averaged 153.3 days after planting, ranging 147.1 – 159.5 days. On a dry weight basis, seed protein, oil and sucrose contents averaged 43.5%, 18.7% and 5.0%, respectively. The estimates of broad-sense heritability were medium to high (66.82 – 94.90%) for most of the traits, while the heritability estimates for fresh pod yield and duration from flowering to maturity were relatively low (23.44% and 42.29%). Several breeding lines exhibited good yield, larger seed size, higher contents of protein, oil, oleic acid and sulfur-containing amino acids, suggesting the potential of release and commercial production.
