Releasing a new cultivar for agricultural production requires that the experimental variety has consistent high yields across a large geographical region. Many experimental varieties are eliminated in advanced yield trials because they may yield at the top of some yield tests but near the bottom of other tests. Enhancing a variety’s ability to have stable seed composition for protein and oil across environments will also add value to soybean. The soybean genome has genes that will enhance a variety’s ability to have consistent yield and seed composition across diverse environments. This project builds upon the previous yield stability project to discover new yield stability genes in diverse germplasm and to develop genomic selection to select for increased yield and seed composition stability in early generation breeding material. Early selection with a large number of experimental lines will help maximize the potential to enhance yield and seed composition stability for cultivars being developed for Nebraska soybean production areas. Important environmental factors may include water, temperature, light, soil type and fertility, and production system. This research will consider stability for factors other than disease and insect pests, so those biotic factors will be controlled in these experiments with prophylactic treatments on seeds and plants during the growing season. Discovering new genes for yield stability not present in current breeding material germplasm and developing an early selection method, will enable us to enhance these key traits for soybean producers.

This research project's main objective is to develop methods that improve soybeans ability to produce consistent yield and seed protein and oil concentration across different Nebraska fields and across years.
Objective 1: Discover new loci that confer yield stability.
Objective 2: Develop and test genomic selection methods for predicting yield and seed composition stability in early generation breeding material.

Most research looking at yield has tended to focus on genes that contribute to high mean values of a trait while ignoring the genome’s ability to stabilize the value of the trait across different environments. Our previous project demonstrated that we were able to map yield vQTL in elite germplasm currently being used in the Nebraska soybean breeding program. This project will expand on discovering novel vQTL not present in the germplasm already screened. While we can map large-effect, vQTL there is still a significant proportion of genes with small effects that will not be mapped due to the lack of power. Genomic selection is a method that is highly effective to enhance breeding for quantitative traits. Using genomic selection to help enhance germplasm for yield and seed composition stability has not been tested in soybean. This study will demonstrate its effectiveness for enhancing trait stability early in the breeding process. The findings from this work can be extended across the north central region of the U.S. to identify genes conferring yield stability across this larger region.

Research findings and potential intellectual property developed from the proposed research will be disseminated to the Nebraska Soybean Board through electronic reports or through presentations. Pending patent filings, if necessary, results generated from these studies will be made available to the public through presentations at national and international meetings and by publication in refereed scientific journals.

Updated May 26, 2023:

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A key factor to releasing a new cultivar is that the experimental variety has consistent high yields across a large geographical region. Many experimental varieties are eliminated in advanced yield trials because they may yield at the top of some yield tests but near the bottom of other tests. Consistent seed composition values of protein and oil is also important to maintaining the value of soybean to the consumer. It has been found that there are genes that can be selected for that increase yield stability across diverse Nebraskan environments.
- This project will discover yield stability genes that are not present in current Nebraska breeding populations.
- Methods will be developed and tested that give breeders the ability to incorporate yield and seed composition stability genes early in a breeding program in combination with high yielding genes to accelerate genetic gain. Enhancing stability early in the breeding process will lead to fewer advanced breeding lines being eliminated due to inconsistent yields across geographical areas.