The winter nurseries allow for continuous operations and progress in the breeding program year-round. At the two Chile nurseries, we evaluate 10,000 to 15,000 progeny rows each winter, grow and harvest 5,000 to 8,000 individual plants from new populations to go into progeny row evaluations in Nebraska, and conduct yield tests on high-yielding advanced lines from our program under specific water treatments important for soybean production in Nebraska. At the Puerto Rico nursery, we advance over 200 populations for two generations between October and May, conduct our main crossing for new research and variety development for all objectives under the lighted area, and evaluate 4,000 or more progeny rows from our long-term protein and oil improvement populations or thesis research studies. The winter nursery operations accelerate breeding progress by shortening the time for cultivar development. That along with our ability to conduct both phenotypic and genotypic evaluations every season accelerates the genetic gain per year.

(1) Conduct generation advance for soybean breeding and genetics studies to obtain 2 additional generations per year;
(2) Crossing for development of new populations for breeding and genetics objectives;
(3) Evaluate progeny rows for selection and advancement to multi-location yield tests;
(4) Conduct small-scale seed increases for research studies and for specific lines to hasten development and commercial production when appropriate;
(5) Yield test advanced high-yield lines from the Nebraska program for response to limited irrigation using precise water treatments and specific developmental stages to identify lines, plant traits, and genes related to yield under drought stress and response to water.

The winter nursery activities are an integral part of the soybean breeding and genetics program. New varieties and germplasm lines will be released for research and commercial use. Information from basic research, thesis studies, variety development, and performance data will be published in extension and scientific journals where appropriate.

Updated May 25, 2023:

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We continue to make steady and significant progress in yield and compositional quality in our breeding program. The winter nurseries are integral to that success. With the Puerto Rico and Chile nurseries, in one year we obtain an additional crossing season, two additional generation advance seasons, and another yield test and progeny row evaluation season for all of our objectives. The impact is shown in our continued outputs of high-yielding soybean cultivars well adapted to Nebraska production environments and the north central US.

- The winter nursery allows us to make full use of our time and resources to improve our realized genetic gain per year.
- It hastens development of research populations and acquisition of results, and moves superior soybean varieties to commercial production more quickly
- The drip study facilities at our Chile nurseries provide valuable information regarding soybean yield and response to water, and we can correlate that response with the line performance in Nebraska production systems. Similar seasonal conditions of heat and water stress help us identify the best new lines for Nebraska producers.