Soybean weed management systems in the Southeastern U.S. rely almost exclusively on conventional herbicide practices.  Concerns of herbicide resistance and the expansion of some organic soybean markets have led some producers to explore alternative weed management systems that utilize a variety of tactics to reduce weed competitiveness.  The use of more competitive soybean varieties could be one such tactic in a more diverse weed management program.  We grew 28 soybean lines in 2007 at Plymouth and Kinston, NC, in a strip split plot design with weedy and weed free treatments stripped across tests with soybean line subplots.  Measurements were made from 2 weeks after emergence (WAE) through 7 WAE to evaluate differences in early and late main stem height, leaf area estimates at 3 and 5 WAE, canopy light interception at 4 and 6 WAE, soy biomass at 7 WAE in weedy and weed free plots, and within the row weed biomass at 7 weeks.  Tests were conducted to allow correlations of early weed suppressiveness with traits such as: large vs. small seed (both within and between genotypes), long vs. normal petiole, tall vs. short main stem, and large vs. narrow leaf shape.