It is often asked how public breeding programs are relevant in an increasingly competitive private seed industry market. For example, public corn breeding is essentially non-existent due to competition with private companies. However, this awareness can be used to facilitate innovation for both private and public breeding since both entities have different strengths. Private company decisions are often driven by cost and return on investment as demonstrated in the investment in hybrid corn (Griliches, 1957). This means private companies are more susceptible to a changing market. However, public
breeding programs are less vulnerable to changing markets and can provide low cost replacement seed
to growers (Thirtle, 2001). Of greater economic importance are the indirect or social return on investment that public breeding programs make in terms of training new breeders that may eventually work for private companies as well (Thirtle, 2001). In addition, public breeding programs are able to focus on traits that private companies do not have the capacity to research or conduct pre-breeding work for such as: enhanced nutrition, optimizing seed composition, or discovering/stacking novel disease resistances.
Soybean in North Dakota is a relatively young crop and has increased bushels harvested from ~20 million in 1995 to ~200 million in 2022 (NDSC https://ndsoybean.org/soybean-stats/). North Dakota is
also one of the only Midwest states that is still actively increasing soybean acreage (US soybean report, WSRC Austria 2023). However, North Dakota soybean yields are only the 8th highest compared to other Midwest states, with a three-year average of 32 bushels/acre (USDA-NASS 2023). There is
undoubtedly a lot of opportunity in North Dakota, and it will take the efforts of both private and public breeding to increase yields to be competitive with other Midwestern states.
The goal of the North Dakota State University public soybean breeding program is to create superior core germplasm from hybridization, early generation advancement, yield testing, pure seed creation, and finally breeder seed increases for distribution to foundation seed for certified seed creation (Fehr, 1987).

• Creation of superior germplasm including increased yield
• Creation of germplasm with stacked disease resistances
• Creation of germplasm with increased protein and oil.
• Training of graduate and undergraduate students to become plant breeders.

The two main deliverables of the project are the creation of superior germplasm with high yield and diseases resistances necessary for North Dakota. This project also creates a training opportunity for students to become the next generation of plant breeders.

Updated November 25, 2024:
a. Research Project Title, Principal and Co-Investigators

A. Title: Breeding, Evaluation, and Maintenance of NDSU Core Germplasm
B. Principal Investigator: Dr. Carrie Miranda
C. Co-Investigator: Dr. Gustavo Kreutz

b. Research Overview and Objectives

This project proposal supports the NDSU soybean breeding program core germplasm program. The core germplasm program comprises nearly all the NDSU soybean germplasm collection including conventional, tofu and natto soybean. The goal is to focus on creating high yielding soybean lines that are stacked with necessary resistances for North Dakota including: soybean cyst nematode, iron deficiency chlorosis, soybean sudden death syndrome, white mold, and brown stem rot. Many of these traits are multigenic and require intense breeding efforts to achieve improvement. Once the superior germplasm is created, it can enter the trait introgression pipeline where acquired herbicide resistances can be added. This proposed project includes every step of creating superior core germplasm from hybridization, early generation advancement, yield testing, pure seed creation, and finally breeder seed increases. My role as the breeder is to oversee and manage the breeding team to assure, they are carrying out the breeding pipeline as efficiently, purely, and safely as possible. This includes decision making and hands on field/ seed lab work. This project also allows for hands-on training for interns, undergraduate, graduate students to give them the experience they need to be successful breeders following graduation.

Objectives:
• Creation of superior germplasm including increased yield
• Creation of germplasm with stacked disease resistances
• Creation of germplasm with increased protein and oil.
• Training of graduate and undergraduate students to become plant breeders.

c. Completed Work: Deliverables and/or Milestones

A. Deliverable: Variety release preparation. Although the glyphosate tolerant program will be discontinued it is currently including in the Core Germplasm collection. A line will be put up for release in January 2025 due to the favorable collected data from 2024. It is an improvement to ND17009GT due to its soybean cyst nematode resistance.

B. Milestone: Success of the accelerated early generation pipeline.

i. 1143 experimental lines created by crossing North Dakota lines with high yielding lines from Illinois, Nebraska, and Missouri were tested in the field as F5s in North Dakota. These crosses were only created in 2022, which proves that the accelerated breeding pipeline to reduce early generation time from 4 to 1.5 years is possible.
ii. These populations are segregating for maturity, and 202 lines were found to be adapted to North Dakota. All lines are being advanced to first year yield testing. One line has suggested increased yield based on weight of the row harvested and will become a parent for future crosses.
iii. Due to success of the accelerated early generation pipeline, all 47 cross combination F1 seeds created in the 2024 field season were sent to Costa Rica for accelerated advancement.

C. 2024 Field season: The 2024 field season was considered successful. Yield trials were conducted in seven locations thanks to help of North Dakota cooperative farmers. Six hundred and ten lines were tested in first year yield trials, 78 lines were tested in second year yield trials, and 13 were tested in advanced yield trials. Selections for the 2025 season were made in November 2024.
D. Lines are progressing through the breeding pipeline advanced yield tests that have stacked 2.5.7 SCN resistant to moderate resistance and IDC tolerance scores of 2.2 or lower. These lines have the potential to become the germplasm background in the trait introgression pipeline and will be used as parents in future crosses.

d. Progress of Work and Results to Date
A. In 2024, the breeder, Carrie Miranda, was out of work for 3 months for maternity leave during harvest. The NDSU Soybean breeding team, led by Gustavo Kreutz and assisted by Ben Harms and Cole Williams were able to successfully harvest all planted 100 acres throughout the Red River Valley.
B. Numerous improvements occurred during the 2024 year thanks to outstanding personal in the NDSU Breeding Program team. Planning and decision making improved. Small but impactful changes were made that reduced errors during planting, note taking, and harvest.
C. A new experimental line will be put up for variety release in 2024.
D. The accelerated early generation advancement plan was successful on a small scale and will be increased in 2024/2025 season.
E. Stacked disease resistances are being accomplished with while mold and brown stem rot traits with additional funding provided by NCSRP and USB.
F. Experimental lines with potential stacked SCN and SDS resistance are in yield trials and will be evaluated for SDS resistance in an affected field in 2025.
G. Creating germplasm with increased oil is a priority for the program and additional funding for this objective is provided by USB. This project is led by Dr. Carrie Miranda.
H. Due to sufficient staffing, students are able to learn about the breeding program and also conduct additional research to benefit the breeding program.




e. Work to be Completed

Materials for the winter nursery have been shipped and selections for the 2025 season have been made, so the next step is to start preparing experimental design and seed packing for planting in May. During this winter, continued improvements to the breeding program will be discussed and planned. This includes parental selection and incorporation of parental selection algorithm. Further analysis of data for traits: oil, seed size of food grade soybean, maturity data for optimal adapted soybean. We are also analyzing the usefulness of our locations, and changing locations when necessary.

f. Other relevant information: potential barriers to achieving objectives, risk mitigation strategies, or breakthroughs

This year was the first year since Dr. Carrie Miranda took over the breeding program where true progress has been made. Staffing changes that occurred over the previous 3 years have proven to be needed and successful. The rate of positive change within the breeding program has been exceptional this year, and momentum continues to improve. In short, there are few needs that the breeding program has at this point. Our largest challenge may be finding new locations near Grand Forks for accurate field data for MG 00 lines, however we do have a few leads.

g. Summary

The NDSU Soybean Breeding Program, led by Dr. Carrie Miranda and co-investigator Dr. Gustavo Kreutz, aims to develop high-yielding soybean lines with enhanced resistance to key diseases affecting North Dakota agriculture, including soybean cyst nematode, iron deficiency chlorosis, and sudden death syndrome. The program's objectives include creating superior germplasm with increased yield, protein, and oil content while incorporating stacked disease resistances. This project provides hands-on training for students, preparing them for careers in plant breeding. Significant advancements include the implementation of an accelerated early-generation breeding pipeline, reducing development time from four years to 1.5 years. This breakthrough led to the creation of over 1,100 experimental lines, of which 202 have been adapted to North Dakota conditions and will undergo yield testing in 2025.
In 2024, despite Dr. Miranda’s maternity leave, the program successfully conducted yield trials across seven locations, involving over 700 experimental lines. Notable progress includes the development of an experimental line set for variety release in January 2025, which demonstrates resistance to soybean cyst nematode and glyphosate tolerance. Additionally, the breeding team achieved improvements in program operations, including planting, note-taking, and harvest processes, which contributed to better outcomes. Efforts to stack disease resistances and enhance oil content are ongoing with additional funding from NCSRP and USB, while winter preparations for the 2025 season are underway. A minor challenge remains in securing optimal field locations for testing maturity group 00 lines near Grand Forks. In summary, the program has seen exceptional progress this year.

View uploaded report 2

The ultimate goal of the NDSU soybean breeding program is to release high yielding soybean
varieties that are well adapted to North Dakota. NDSU soybean varieties are less expensive than private companies, and therefore, are more accessible to local farmers. This project also creates a training place for students to learn how to become breeders that will be extremely knowledge about
the challenges of breeding and soybean production in the North Dakota environments.