Registration of ‘TN14-5021’, a conventional soybean variety with high seed protein and resistance to soybean cyst nematode races 2, 3 and 5

Authors: PANTALONE, VINCENT - UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE; Fallen, Benjamin

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Registrations
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/15/2021
Publication Date: 12/21/2021
Citation: Pantalone, V., Fallen, B.D. 2021. Registration of ‘TN14-5021’, a conventional soybean variety with high seed protein and resistance to soybean cyst nematode races 2, 3 and 5. Journal of Plant Registrations. 16,246–251. https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20168.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20168

Interpretive Summary: Soybean cyst nematode (SCN) is the most damaging pest in soybean, resulting in an estimated $1.5 billion of annual losses in the US. SCN was originally discovered in North Carolina in the 1950s. Since then, SCN has been found in all soybean growing states in the US. To date, the most economical and only feasible option for SCN management is host plant resistance. Predominantly two sources of SCN resistance, PI 88788 and ‘Peking’, have been used in the past to develop SCN resistant soybean cultivars. Relaying on only two sources of resistance has resulted in population shifts in SCN, overcoming the source of resistance. In addition, planting cultivars with SCN resistance derived from PI 88788 and Peking, which do not carry resistance to SCN races 2 and 5, enabled these two races to become more prevalent. According to the most recently published literature SCN races 2 and 5 represent more than 50%, 37% and 25% of SCN populations in Tennessee, North Carolina and Missouri, respectively. Very few resistant cultivars are available that carry resistant to multiple races of SCN that have been developed from PI 437654 that also carry resistance to other soybean diseases and contain high seed protein. The soybean cultivar TN14-5021 was developed and released by the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station in 2020. TN14-5021 is late maturity group (MG) IV conventional soybean cultivar with a determinate growth habit that has white flowers, gray pubescence, tan pod walls and the seeds are yellow with smooth seed coats. It is resistant to SCN races 2, 3 and 5 and stem canker. In replicated trials across 70 environments in the Mid-South, TN-5021 showed high yield potential and adaptation to a broad range of growing conditions. It is an F19-derived reselection from the soybean variety JTN-5203, which has a broad resistance to multiple soybean cyst nematode races, reniform nematode and fungal diseases, including frogeye leaf spot, sudden death syndrome, and stem canker. The purpose of the reselection approach was to develop a soybean with SCN race 2 resistance that is earlier in maturity than JTN-5203 to meet the growing demand for late MG IV soybeans in the Mid-South.

Technical Abstract: TN14-5021 is a late-maturity group IV (relative maturity 4.9) determinate conventional soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] variety developed and released by the University of Tennessee soybean breeding program. Soybean varieties with resistance to soybean cyst nematode (SCN) Race 2 are rare, yet Race 2 is becoming a predominant SCN population infecting farmers’ fields in regions of the Southeast and Midwest. TN14-5021 also conveys resistant to stem canker, caused by Diaporthe phaseolorum (Cooke & Ellis) Sacc. var. caulivora K.L. Athow & R.M. Caldwell and strong resistance to SCN races 3 and 5 (SCN; Heterodera glycines Ichinohe). In replicated trials across 70 environments from the lower Midwest to the Southeast, TN-5021 showed high yield potential and adaptation to a broad range of growing conditions. TN14-5021 has white flowers and gray pubescence. The pods have a tan pod coat, and the seeds are yellow with smooth seed coats. Across 48 environments with testing locations from Kansas to Alabama, over a four-year period, TN14-5021 averaged 406 g kg-1 and 226 g kg-1 protein and oil content on a dry weight basis, respectively. In comparison, the average protein and oil content of commercial varieties grown in the same tests averaged 397 g kg-1 and 224 g kg-1, respectively. In the same test TN14-5021 had an average yield of 3886 kg ha-1, which was 101.3% of the test average. Its high yield coupled with elevated seed protein concentration and nematode resistance package make TN14-5021 a valuable variety for Tennessee and the Mid-South region.