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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Crop Genetics Research » Research » Research Project #435273
Research Project: Evaluation and Development of Improved Soybean Germplasm, Curation of USDA Accessions and Regional Evaluations of New Genotypes

Location: Crop Genetics Research

2019 Annual Report


Accomplishments
1. Development of an improved soybean cultivar. Current U.S. soybean cultivars are derived from a small and narrow set of ancestral parents, resulting in a potential genetic bottleneck for yield and for vulnerabilities to new or invasive diseases and/or abiotic stresses. A novel, genetically diverse, high-yielding MG III soybean germplasm line (LG03-4561-14) was released by USDA-ARS researchers at Stoneville, Mississippi, Urbana, Illinois, and Jackson, Tennessee. LG03-4561-14 was derived from 25% exotic parentage and is the first released improved soybean germplasm line with PI 445837 in its pedigree. LG03-4561-14 was registered in the Journal of Plant Registrations, with seed deposited for long-term storage at Ft. Collins, Colorado, and for maintenance and distribution at Urbana, Illinois. This germplasm is the first MG III germplasm derived from exotic sources and released for use in the early production system of the southern USA. Seed of LG03-4561-14 has been requested by soybean breeders internationally from Germany and India, and is being used domestically in the USA in multiple public soybean breeding programs.

2. Development of a seedling screening methodology. Phomopsis seed decay can cause both yield and seed quality losses under some harvest conditions. Qualitative measurements of the disease can be extremely time consuming and expensive. A seedling inoculation and evaluation method for rapid screening soybean for resistance to Phomopsis seed decay has been developed by USDA-ARS researchers at Stoneville, Mississippi. Although Phomopsis seed decay is a soybean seed disease, results from the cut-seedling inoculation assays were comparable to those obtained from field tests. This research could facilitate the identification of resistance to Phomopsis seed decay without waiting for an entire growing season to conduct the seed assay. The method has been adopted by public soybean breeders in Southern Illinois University and two pathology laboratories in China.

3. Drought effects on seed quality components. Drought is a major abiotic stress factor that affects soybean seed composition and understanding the effects are critical to maintaining seed quality. USDA-ARS researchers at Stoneville, Mississippi, and Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi, were able to determine that seed protein, palmitic and linoleic acids, sucrose, raffinose, stachyose, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium significantly decreased whereas oil, stearic, oleic and linolenic acids, and some minerals, including iron, zinc, copper, and boron increased in response to soil moisture stress. The changes in seed composition constituents were due to changes in nutrient accumulation in seeds under drought conditions. This information indicates the necessity of maintaining adequate soil moisture during flowering and seed-fill stages to obtain a high nutritional value of soybean seeds. This information also advances our knowledge of the effects of drought and irrigation management on seed quality and nutrition, and is also beneficial to breeders making drought tolerance selection.


Review Publications
Akond, M., Liu, S., Yuan, J., Kantartzi, S.K., Meksem, K., Bellaloui, N., Lightfoot, D.A., Kassem, M.A. 2018. Detection of QTL underlying seed quality components in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 98:1-8. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2017-0204.
 Dhanapal, A., Ray, J.D., Smith, J.R., Purcell, L.C., Fritschi, F.B. 2018. Identification of novel genomic loci associated with soybean shoot tissue macro- and micro-nutrient concentrations. The Plant Genome. 11:710066. https://doi.org/10.3835/plantgenome2017.07.0066.
 Kaler, A.S., Ray, J.D., Schapaugh, W.T., Asebedo, A.R., King, A., Gbur, E.E., Purcell, L.C. 2018. Association mapping identifies loci for canopy temperature under drought in diverse soybean genotypes. Euphytica. 214:135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-018-2215-2.
 Liu, S., Wang, X., Yin, X., Bellaloui, N., McClure, M., Mengistu, A. 2019. Soybean seed isoflavone respond differentially to phosphorus applications in low and high phosphorus soils. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems. 113(3):217-230. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-019-09982-3.
 Gillen, A.M., Mengistu, A., Arelli, P.R., Stetina, S.R., Bellaloui, N. 2018. Registration of soybean germplasm line DB0638-70 with high yield potential and diverse genetic background. Journal of Plant Registrations. 13:96-102. https://doi.org/10.3198/jpr2018.03.0016crg.
 Nandula, V.K., Montgomery, G.B., Vennapusa, A.R., Jugulam, M., Giacomini, D.A., Ray, J.D., Bond, J.A., Steckel, L.E., Tranel, P.J. 2018. Glyphosate-resistant junglerice (Echinochloa colona) from Mississippi and Tennessee: Magnitude and resistance mechanisms. Weed Science. 66:603-610.
 Mengistu, A., Kelly, H., Bellaloui, N., Arelli, P.R., Lin, B. 2018. Quantifying the effects of fungicides and tillage on Cercospora sojina severity and yield of soybean. Plant Health Progress. 19:226-232. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHP-04-18-0017-RS.
 Deng, Y., Hsiang, T., Li, S., Lin, L., Wang, Q., Chen, Q., Xie, B., Ming, R. 2018. Comparison of the mitochondrial genome sequences of six Annulohypoxylon stygium isolates suggests short fragment insertions as a potential factor leading to larger genomic size. Frontiers in Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.02079.
 Li, S. 2018. Development of a seedling inoculation technique for rapid evaluation of soybean for resistance to Phomopsis longicolla under controlled conditions. Plant Methods. 14:81. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-018-0348-x.
 Bellaloui, N., Abbas, H.K., Ebelhar, W.M., Mengistu, A., Mulvaney, M.J., Accinelli, C., Shier, T.W. 2018. Effect of increased nitrogen application rates and environment on protein, oil, fatty acids, and minerals in sesame (Sesamum indicum) seed grown under Mississippi Delta conditions. Food and Nutrition Sciences. 9:1112-1135. https://doi.org/10.4236/fns.2018.99081.
 Wijewardana, C., Reddy, R., Bellaloui, N. 2018. Soybean seed physiology, quality, and chemical composition under soil moisture stress. Food Chemistry. 278:92-100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.11.035.
 Kaler, A., Bazzer, S., Sanz-Saez, A., Ray, J.D., Fritschi, F., Purcell, L. 2018. Carbon isotope ratio fractionation among plant tissues of soybean. The Plant Phenome Journal. 1:180002. https://doi.org/10.2135/tppj2018.04.0002.
 Smith, J.R., Ray, J.D., Mengistu, A. 2018. Genotypic differences in yield loss of irrigated soybean attributable to charcoal rot. Journal of Crop Improvement. 32(6):781-800. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427528.2018.1516262.
 Smith, J.R., Gillen, A.M., Nelson, R.L., Bruns, H.A., Mengistu, A., Li, S., Bellaloui, N. 2019. Registration of high-yielding exotically-derived soybean germplasm line LG03-4561-14. Journal of Plant Registrations. 13:237-244. https://doi.org/10.3198/jpr2018.09.0061crg.
 Averitt, B., Zhang, B., Li, S., Chen, P. 2017. A survey of the agronomic and end-use characteristics of low phytic acid soybeans. In: Fletcher, B., editor. Soybeans: Cultivation, Nutritional Properties and Effects on Health. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. p. 21-33.
 Cheng, Y., Ma, Q., Ren, H., Xia, Q., Song, E., Tan, Z., Li, S., Zhang, G., Nian, H. 2017. Fine mapping of a Phytophthora-resistance gene RpsWY in soybean (Glycine max L.) by high-throughput genome-wide sequencing. Theoretical and Applied Genetics. 130(5):1041-1051. https://doi.org/10.1007/S00122-017-2869-5.