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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Raleigh, North Carolina » Soybean and Nitrogen Fixation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #190439
Title: REGISTRATION OF 'NITRASOY' SOYBEAN

Author
item Burton, Joseph
item Israel, Daniel
item Bishop, Paul

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Germplasm Release
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/3/2006
Publication Date: 11/21/2006
Citation: Burton, J.W., Israel, D.W., Bishop, P.E. 2006. Registration of 'Nitrasoy' soybean. Crop Sci. 46:2709-2710.

Interpretive Summary: A new soybean variety, 'Nitrasoy', has been developed and released cooperatively by USDA-ARS and North Carolina State University. It is a nonnodulating group VI maturity soybean variety. Because it cannot form nodules, it also cannot fix atmospheric nitrogen. Thus Nitrasoy needs a large amount of soil applied nitrogen to obtain excellent seed yields. Nitrasoy was developed to provide a leguminous crop option for the land application of animal waste. It is the only non nodulating variety currently available. Soybean is an excellent crop for receiving nitrogen from animal waste because soybean seeds are rich in nitrogen and when harvested the nitrogen from animal waste that is in the soybean seeds is completely removed from the plant where it was applied. Nitrasoy is adapted to southern USA, 27 degrees to 37 degrees north latitude.

Technical Abstract: The Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service announce the release of a new soybean [Glycine max L. Merr.] variety Nitrasoy. Nitrasoy is a nonnodulating group VI maturity soybean variety with a large requirement for soil-applied nitrogen to obtain excellent seed yields. It is the only public release of a nonnodulating soybean variety. Nitrasoy provides a leguminous crop option for land application of animal waste previously unavailable using commercial soybean varieties. It is adapted to southern USA, 27° - 37° N lat. Nitrasoy is an F5 selection from the cross D68-0099/‘Cook’. D68-0099 is a backcross-derived breeding line and is the donor parent of the rj1 nonnodulating gene, which when homozygous, prevents the nodulation of the soybean root by Bradyrhizobium japonicum. Experiments with three genotypes (Cook, D68-0099, and Nitrasoy) and seven soil-applied nitrogen rates (0, 49, 99, 148, 197, 246, and 296 kg ha-1 of N as ammonium nitrate) were conducted in 2002 on the Central Crops Research Station near Clayton, NC. The seed yield of nodulating variety Cook averaged 3,561 kg ha-1 with no difference across the applied N rates. In 0 N treatment, Nitrasoy and D68-0099 had similar seed yield (1,680 kg ha-1). The seed yield of Nitrasoy increased with each level of applied N rate, yielding 3,383 kg ha-1 with 250 kg ha-1 of applied N. Experiments with four non-nodulating genotypes (D68-0099, N97-2996, Nitrasoy, and N99-3342) and three nitrogen levels applied as swine-lagoon effluent were conducted at two locations in NC in 2001. The seed yield of nitrasoy was greater than the other three genotypes. Nitrasoy recovered 17% more soil plus applied N in seed than D68-0099 (193 kg ha-1 versus 165 kg N ha-1) Thus, it is an excellent choice as an N receiver crop for fields receiving animal waste. Corn-wheat-double cropped soybean (nodulated) is a common cropping system used on fields receiving swine lagoon effluent. Substitution of nonnodulated Nitrasoy into this system for nodulated soybean varieties should improve recovery of nitrogen applied in animal waste. Nitrasoy is also a useful tool for studying effects of microbial symbiotic and asymbiotic N fixation on soybean productivity. Positive effects of symbiotic N fixation by Bradyrhizobium on soybean are well known. Effects of associative N fixation from freeliving N fixing bacteria such as Azotobacter are not known, even though they are routinely included in some soybean inoculums. Nitrasoy provides a very useful tool for studying these effects.