ARS Scientist will meet with colleagues and experts involved in soybean rust research.
On November 29 through December 1, Dr. Robert G. Upchurch (SNF Unit in Raleigh, NC) will attend the National Soybean Rust Symposium to be held at St. Louis, MO to meet and confer with colleagues and experts involved in soybean rust research. This meeting is surely the best expert gathering to make contacts and to hear and assimilate the latest news about soybean rust progression and its management in the southern U. S. Overviews of soybean rust during 2006 will be given for North America, South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean Basin. The results of university and industry fungicide trails and additional management practices will be presented. Other important topics to be presented include economics and policy, epidemiology, host response, fungicide application technology, disease assessment, and forecasting and monitoring.
ARS Scientists will present research at the 2006 ASA-CSSA-SSSA meetings.
Scientists of the Soybean & N-Fixation Unit, Raleigh, NC are presenting research on soybean breeding and physiology at the American Society of Agronomy Annual meetings in Indianapolis, IN, November 12-16. Dr. Tommy Carter will be presenting “Salt tolerance in the genetic base of U.S. and Canadian Soybean.” Joe Burton will be presenting “Cytoplasmic effects on fatty acid stability maternal effects in soybean”, and Dan Israel will be presenting “Soybean root growth in acid subsoils in relation to magnesium additions on soil solution ionic composition”.
ARS Scientist to participate in the annual Customer/Partner Dialogue workshop.
On November 9, 2006, Dr. Joe Burton (SNF Unit in Raleigh, NC) will participate as a panelist in the annual Customer/Partner Dialogue workshop to be held in Florence, SC (USDA-ARS Coastal Plains Soil, Water & Plant Research Center. The program will focus on energy and carbon in agriculture. He was invited to participate due to his expertise in oil crops.
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Scientists Participate in Evaluation of Soy Germplasm resistant to Asian Soybean Rust.
On March 15, 2006, two members of the ARS Soybean and Nitrogen Fixation Unit Research Unit, Raleigh, NC met with scientists at the University of Georgia campus at Griffin, GA. This group rated exotic soybean germplasm and progeny for resistance to Asian Soybean Rust. Asian Soybean Rust is an economically serious disease in Latin America that has recently appeared in the USA. Carter and Burton, USDA, have developed breeding lines adapted to the Southeast which, in preliminary investigations, show resistance to the disease. Other participants included scientists from the University of GA, University of Illinois, and N.C. State University. Drs. Dan Phillips and Roger Boerma, University of Georgia, developed the greenhouse screening protocol.
Small-Seeded Soybean Germplasm Lines Released
The Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service announce the release of new soybean [Glycine max L. Merr.] germplasm lines NC114 and NC115. They are the first public releases of determinate maturity group VI small-seeded soybean germplasm lines. NC114 and NC115 are adapted to southern USA and released as parental material for development of soyfood cultivars. NC114 and NC115 were developed by Dr. Thomas E. Carter, Jr.(tommy_carter@ncsu.edu), Research Geneticist, USDA-ARS, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Growth Temperature Effects the Expression of Soybean Oil Genes
Fatty acid desaturase enzymes are important determinants of the fatty acid composition of soybean oil. Growth temperature also affects the composition of soybean oil. This has a potentially negative impact on mid-oleic acid soybean varieties now under development. Research conducted by Dr. Joe Burton to assess the effect of temperature on several fatty acid desaturase genes/alleles suggests that temperature regulates the expression of several of the genes/alleles. Initial results show that the different genes do not show the same pattern of transcript accumulation with respect to temperature during seed development. These findings provide new insight for development of breeding strategies to stabilize oleic acid concentrations in mid-oleic soybean lines.
Diversity Study of US Soybeans Sheds Light on Potential for Improved Varieties
Even though the National Academy of Science raised concern about genetic vulnerability in crops more than 30 years ago, this issue has been largely ignored in soybean. Dr. Tommy Carter is showing that the concerns of the Academy were justified for U.S. soybean production. Using pedigree analysis techniques from animal breeding, Dr. Carter compared diversity in the ancestors of US cultivars vs. the modern cultivars themselves. He found that diversity has been lost as a bi-product of breeding, with the result that modern varieties are almost as
closely related as half brother and sister, on average. Follow-up work has demonstrated that little breeding progress can be expected when parents of populations are so closely related. Such matings are common in the industry and, Dr. Carter is helping breeders recognize and avoid expensive dead-end breeding approaches. Opportunities to resolve the problem are being sought.
Progress Being Made in Reducing Phytic Acid in Soybeans
Burton, Israel and Kwanyuen are working on a project sponsored by the United Soybean Board to reduce the phytic acid in soybeans. They will be presenting a poster titled "Genetic Variability for Phytic Acid P and Phosphate P in Soybean Seeds of Maturity Groups V and VI" at the annual meeting of the Crop Science Society in Seattle, Oct. 31 - Nov. 3. Much of the phosphorous (P) in soybean [Glycine max (L.) merr.]seeds, between 68 and 78% is stored as phytic acid (PA) Phytic acid P is not bioavailable to either livestock or human consumers of soybeans. Thus, it is a major source of P in animal excreta and an environmental pollutant. It is a particular problem in areas where there is concentrated swine and poultry production as both consume large quantities of soy protein meal. PA also binds to nutritionally important minerals, particularly Zn, making them unavailable to humans and non-ruminant livestock. Soybean breeding efforts have been greatly enhanced by a new HPLC based procedure developed by Dr. Kwanyuen for direct measurement of phytic acid in soybean seeds (reference) and a rapid screen for phosphate (a trait that is negatively correlated with phytic acid) developed by Dr. Israel.
Reference:
Kwanyuen, P. and Burton, JW. A Simple and Rapid Procedure for Phytate Determination in Soybean and Soy products. JAOCS, in press (#J10777-accepted, August 2004)
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