this invention relates to a soybean cultivar designated 11939 - 40 which was developed by single plant selection from another soybean cultivar , 11939 , which was disclosed and claimed in u . s . ser . no . 10 / 108 , 326 . soybean cultivar 11939 - 40 differs from its “ mother ” cultivar , 11939 , in more than one important characteristic , as described below . a single plant selection from soybean cultivar 11939 ( developed as described in detail in u . s . ser . no . 10 / 108 , 326 ) was made in a winter nursery in south america and grown in a progeny row at gilbert , ia in plot omr9667 - 34 in 2000 . seed gathered from this progeny row was used for agronomic and yield trial evaluations in subsequent seasons , and named 11939 - 40 on jul . 30 , 2001 . this new soybean cultivar was characterized for important morphological , agronomic and performance qualities in evaluation trials , greenhouse studies , and disease nurseries . soybean cultivar 11939 - 40 has uniformity and stability of its morphological and other characteristics . the variety description information ( table i ) provides a summary of characteristics of soybean cultivar 11939 - 40 plant characteristics . as used herein , “ a soybean plant having the physiological and morphological characteristics of soybean cultivar 11939 - 40 ” is a plant having the characteristics set forth in table 1 . soybean cultivar 11939 - 40 differs from cultivar 11939 in that 11939 - 40 breeds true for pure purple flower color . the soybean cultivar 11939 - 40 does not differ significantly from 11939 in important agronomic characteristics such as lodging resistance and plant height ( table 2 ). in table 3 , the yield and maturity date of soybean cultivars 11939 - 40 and 11939 are compared . as can be seen in table 3 , the soybean cultivar 11939 - 40 was found to mature one day later than soybean cultivar 11939 in three years of replicated , comparative studies . therefore , 11939 - 40 is characterized as a maturity group ii soybean cultivar with a relative maturity of 2 . 3 , whereas 11939 is a maturity group ii soybean cultivar with a relative maturity of 2 . 1 ( table 1 ). as can be seen in table 3 , a statistically significant difference ( as quantified by a paired t test at a p = 0 . 10 level of probability ) exists in yield between soybean cultivar 11939 - 40 and cultivar 11939 . soybean cultivar 11939 - 40 has a nearly 1 . 5 bu / ac improved yield over that of cultivar 11939 . the present invention contemplates using the 11939 - 40 soybean plant , or part thereof , or a soybean plant having the physiological and morphological characteristics of the 11939 - 40 soybean plant , as a source of breeding material for developing a soybean plant in a soybean breeding program using plant breeding techniques . plant breeding techniques useful in the developing soybean plants include , but are not limited to , single seed descent , modified single seed descent , recurrent selection , reselection , mass selection , bulk selection , backcrossing , pedigree breeding , mutation breeding , restriction fragment length polymorphism enhanced selection , genetic marker enhanced selection , and transformation . plant breeding techniques are known to the art and have been described in the literature . for example , see u . s . pat . no . 6 , 143 , 954 , which , along with the references cited therein , is incorporated by reference herein . as used herein , the term “ plant ” includes plant cells , plant protoplasts , plant cell tissue cultures from which soybean plants can be regenerated , plant calli , plant clumps , and plant cells that are intact in plants or parts thereof . “ plant part ” includes , but is not limited to , embryos , pollen , ovules , seeds , flowers , pods , leaves , roots , root tips , anthers , and the like . one may obtain soybean plants according to the present invention by directly by growing the seed of 11939 - 40 or by any other means . a soybean plant having all of the physiological and morphological characteristics of 11939 - 40 can be obtained by any suitable means , including , but not limited to , regenerating plants or plant parts from tissue culture or cuttings . the scope of the present invention is not limited by the method by which the plant is obtained . seed from soybean cultivar 11939 - 40 , disclosed above and recited in the appended claims , was deposited with the american type culture collection ( atcc ), 10801 university boulevard , manassas , virginia 20110 on ______ , 2004 . the present invention is not limited to the exemplified embodiments , but is intended to encompass all such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the following claims .
disclosed is the seed of a novel soybean cultivar , designated 11939 - 40 , a sample of which is deposited under atcc accession no . xxxxx . also disclosed are plants , or parts thereof , grown from the seed of the cultivar , plants having the morphological and physiological characteristics of the 11939 cultivar , and methods of using the plant or parts thereof in a soybean breeding program .