An investigation was carried out at the Main Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, during kharif  2014 with ten vegetable type and two grain type soybean genotypes for evaluating variation in plant growth, duration to attain reproductive R1 and R6 stages,  physiological  parameters and  pod yield (at R6 stage). The results revealed that, genotypic differences with respect to phenological, physiological parameters had their direct and indirect influence on yield and yield attributing traits. The genotypes Swarna and AGS-610   had maximum plant height and highest number of branches and maximum yield compared to other genotypes. The higher seed yield was associated with  more number of days between R1 and R6 stages (72.3 days), which allowed better seed filling. There is positive relation between plant height, number of branches, leaf area, photosynthetic activity, chlorophyll content, dry matter accumulation with seed yield.  Similarly, genotypes with higher photosynthetic rate, maximum leaf area, and higher chlorophyll content recorded maximum pod yield and seed yield. Therefore, the genotypes with maximum plant height, number of branches, higher number of days between R1 and R6 stage, with higher photosynthetic activity and yield attributing traits resulted in maximum pod and seed yield