2021
Breeding for Flood Tolerance in Soybean for NC - Building on Success
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Contributor/Checkoff:
North Carolina Soybean Producers Association
Category:
Sustainable Production
Keywords:
GeneticsGenomics
Parent Project:
This is the first year of this project.
Lead Principal Investigator:
Ben Fallen, USDA/ARS-North Carolina State University
Co-Principal Investigators:
Project Code:
21-073
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
North Carolina Soybean Producers Association
$25,000
Institution Funded:
North Carolina State University
$25,000
Brief Project Summary:
North Carolina soybeans are vulnerable to wet weather and flooding, which can happen at any time during the growing season. Flooding and/or saturated soils can reduce oxygen supply to the roots, which can cause a buildup of toxic respired carbon dioxide in the soil and promote root diseases like Phytophthora. The goal of this research builds on previous projects and continues developing high yielding, flood-tolerant soybean varieties specifically for North Carolina farmers. Efforts validate the response of locally adapted breeding lines identified as having flood tolerance for release. They also evaluate soybean genotypes for their ability to withstand waterlogging in comparison to partial shoot submergence and assess the physiological basis for superior flood tolerance.
Key Beneficiaries:
#agronomists, #extension agents, #farmers, #seed companies, #soybean breeders
Unique Keywords:
#breeding & genetics, #flood tolerance, #soybean breeding
Information And Results
Project Summary

North Carolina soybeans are vulnerable to wet weather and flooding, which can happen at any time during the growing season. In North Carolina flooding is more common in the Northeastern part of the state, where elevation is low and water tables are high. However, heavy rainfall and saturated soil conditions, with no standing water or flooding can still be a very big problem, throughout the state. In 2016, as much as 15 inches of rain fell in a 24-hour period in parts of
North Carolina as a result of hurricane Matthew. In 2018, hurricane Florence dumped more than 20 inches of rain in many eastern counties after a prolonged wet summer. In 2020, we have been fortunate enough to miss any significant rainfall resulting from hurricanes passing through NC, but it has been an exceptionally wet season, with periods of prolonged rains and wet conditions. Flooding and/or saturated soils can reduce the oxygen supply to the roots, which
can cause a buildup of toxic respired carbon dioxide in the soil and can promote crippling root diseases such as Phytophthora. Up until four years ago when this project was started there were no known flood tolerant soybean varieties available to NC farmers. Previous funding for this project by the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association (NCSPA) and the United Soybean Board (USB) has allowed us to evaluate numerous breeding lines and released
varieties for flood tolerance at the Tidewater Research Station at Plymouth, NC, which was no small feat. Implementing a procedure to uniformly subject plants to flood-like conditions was one of the most challenging aspects of this project. The goal of this proposal is to build upon the success of the previous project and continue the process of developing high yielding, flood tolerant soybean varieties specifically for North Carolina farmers.

Project Objectives

1). Validate the response of locally adapted breeding lines developed by the USDA Soybean Breeding program that have been identified as having flood tolerance, for release.

2). Evaluate soybean genotypes for their ability to withstand waterlogging in comparison to partial shoot submergence.

3). Continue preliminary breeding work to select new soybean types that perform well under flooding and/or chronically wet conditions in North Carolina.

4). Assess the physiological basis for superior flood tolerance in North Carolina-grown soybeans.

Project Deliverables

Progress Of Work

Final Project Results

Benefit To Soybean Farmers

The United Soybean Research Retention policy will display final reports with the project once completed but working files will be purged after three years. And financial information after seven years. All pertinent information is in the final report or if you want more information, please contact the project lead at your state soybean organization or principal investigator listed on the project.