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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbus, Ohio » Soil Drainage Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #105146
Title: USING MOLECULAR PLANT BREEDING AND GENETIC TRANSFORMATION TO IMPROVE FLOODING TOLERANCE IN SOYBEAN (PART 2)

Author
item BORU, GETACHEW - OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
item Vantoai, Tara
item ALVES, JOSE - UNIV FED DE LAVRAS BRAZIL
item HUA, DUC - OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Soybean Research World Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/4/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Periods of flooding during the growing season adversely affect crop growth and grain production in many areas of the world. The advancement of molecular plant breeding techniques allows the incorporation of flooding tolerance into high-yield cultivars. We have conducted field, greenhouse and growth chamber studies to: a) develop efficient screening techniques for flooding tolerance; b) map flood-tolerance QTL; c) identify genes associated with the flooding tolerant response; and d) improve flooding tolerance by genetic transformation. Soybean is very tolerant to the lack of oxygen, but is sensitive to elevated carbon dioxide levels in the root zone. In 1997, a QTL, associated with 50% increase in soybean growth and seed yield under flooding conditions was found in two recombinant inbred populations that segregated for flooding tolerance. This same QTL was confirmed in two field experiments in 1998. This QTL was uniquely associated with flooding tolerance and was not associated with maturity, resistance to root rot disease or normal seed yields. Using marker aided selection (MAS) we have created soybean near isogenic lines that differ only at the locus for flooding tolerance. These lines will be field tested for flooding tolerance. In a genetic transformation study, we have found that transgenic plants containing the ipt gene for cytokinin biosynthesis are more tolerant to submergence and waterlogging than wild type plants. The results indicated that the use of molecular plant breeding and genetic transformation to produce flood-tolerant cultivars will pay dividends in the near future.