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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Urbana, Illinois » Soybean/maize Germplasm, Pathology, and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #308290
Title: Confirmation of a seed yield QTL in soybean

Author
item FOX, CAROLYN - University Of Illinois
item CARY, TROY - University Of Illinois
item Nelson, Randall
item DIERS, BRIAN - University Of Illinois

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2014
Publication Date: 2/20/2015
Citation: Fox, C.M., Cary, T.R., Nelson, R.L., Diers, B.W. 2015. Confirmation of a seed yield QTL in soybean. Crop Science. 55:992-998.

Interpretive Summary: Exotic soybean germplasm has been used by soybean breeders to bring in new genetic diversity to increase the yield of U.S. soybean varieties. To show the importance of exotic germplasm, genetic mapping results have been published that demonstrate a link between DNA markers and chromosomal regions associated with higher yield from exotic germplasm. There are no published results that confirm these associations in an independent populations. This confirmation is required to ensure that the effect is real. In earlier research, we identified four chromosomal regions from PI 68658, introduced from China in 1926, that increased the yield of the old variety Lawrence. To confirm these results, we crossed an experimental line with the four positive alleles from PI 68658 to the new, high yielding variety LD00-3309. In our research, we confirmed that one region on chromosome 5 increased the yield of LD00-3309 by 2 bushels per acre. This is the first confirmation of a chromosomal region from exotic germplasm increasing the yield of a modern soybean variety. Soybean breeders will be able to use the DNA markers associated with this region to select for the gene(s) that are responsible for this significant yield increase.

Technical Abstract: Exotic germplasm can be an important source of genetic diversity for soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] improvement. Previously, four yield quantitative trait loci (QTL) had been identified in a cross between the exotic soybean plant introduction (PI) 68658 and the U.S. cultivar Lawrence. The confirmation of these QTL in other genetic backgrounds will provide further evidence of their usefulness in cultivar development. To confirm the four yield QTL, a population of 117 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) was developed from a backcross using a line from the initial PI 68658 mapping study as the donor parent and LD00-3309, a high-yielding elite cultivar, as the recurrent parent. The confirmation population was grown at two locations in Illinois in 2008, 2009, and 2010. One yield QTL, linked to marker Satt300 on chromosome 5, was confirmed across the experiment (p < 0.01) and the high yield allele was contributed by the exotic parent PI 68658. This QTL was given the confirmed designation cqSeed yield-002. A second yield QTL, linked to Satt474 on chromosome 14, was significant (p < 0.05) across the experiment, with the high yield allele contributed by LD00-3309. Analysis of yield components from one location showed a significant increase in the total number of pods per plant associated with both of these markers. Our results provide evidence that valuable yield QTL exist in exotic soybean germplasm and that these QTL could be used to increase yield in modern cultivars.