Acknowledgement Preface Chapter 1 Essential principles of molecular marker and quantitative trait loci associations Chapter 2 Method development for identifying functional markers in the soybean genome Chapter 3 Map development and marker-assisted selection for oligogenic and polygeneic traits Chapter 4 QTL analysis of fungal disease resistance Chapter 5 Identification ofloci for resistance to insects and nematodes, Chapter 6 QTL analysis for seed quality traits Chapter 7 Seed yield and component trait loci Chapter 8 Loci underlying soil edaphic, physiological and developmental traits Chapter 9 Dynamic QTL analysis of major quantitative traits Chapter 10 Molecular mapping and breeding for biotic stress resistance Colored Figures