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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » Corn Insects and Crop Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #150904
Title: MOLECULAR MARKER ANALYSIS OF SEED SIZE IN SOYBEAN

Author
item HOECK, JOSEPH - ISU
item FEHR, WALTER - ISU
item Shoemaker, Randy
item WELKE, GRACE - ISU
item JOHNSON, SUSAN - ISU
item CIANZIO, SILVIA - ISU

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/31/2001
Publication Date: 1/3/2003
Citation: HOECK, J.A., FEHR, W.R., SHOEMAKER, R.C., WELKE, G.A., JOHNSON, S.L., CIANZIO, S.R. MOLECULAR MARKER ANALYSIS OF SEED SIZE IN SOYBEAN. CROP SCIENCE. 2003. V. 43. P. 68-74.

Interpretive Summary: The size of the soybean seed is important for many human food uses. The trait is controlled to a large degree by environmental conditions and heredity. Plant breeding programs trying to alter seed size are hindered by these complex interactions. In this study the authors identified markers that they can easily select for in breeding programs that have prediction value for the seed size trait. This information will be useful to plant breeders who want to identify those plants that will likely produces large seeded beans or small seeded beans, without having to grow them to maturity to make the determination. This will make breeding for seed size in soybean much more efficient and cheaper.

Technical Abstract: Seed size is an important attribute of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] for some food uses. The objectives of this study were to identify simple-sequence-repeat (SSR) markers associated with quantitative trait loci for seed size (SSQTL) and to compare the effectiveness of phenotypic selection and marker-assisted selection for seed size among individual F2 plants. Three small-seeded lines were crossed to parents with normal seed size to form three two-parent populations. The parents of the populations were screened with 178 SSR markers to identify polymorphism. Population 1 (Pop 1) had 75 polymorphic SSR markers covering 1306 centimorgans (cM), Pop 2 had 70 covering 1143 cM, and Pop 3 had 82 covering 1237 cM. Seed size of each population was determined with 100 F2 plants grown at Isabela, Puerto Rico, and their F2'derived lines grown in two replications at three environments. Single-factor analysis of variance and multiple regression were used to determine significant marker-SSQTL associations. Population 1 had 12 markers that individually accounted for 8.1 to 14.9% of the variation for seed size combined across environments, Pop 2 had 16 markers that individually accounted for 7.8 to 36.5% of the variation, and Pop 3 had 22 markers that individually accounted for 8.6 to 28.8% of the variation. Three marker loci that had significant SSQTL associations in this study also were significant in previous research, and 13 markers had unique SSQTL associations. The relative effectiveness of phenotypic and marker-assisted selection among F2 plants varied for the three populations. Averaged across the three populations, phenotypic selection for seed size was as effective and less expensive than marker-assisted selection.