Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » St. Paul, Minnesota » Plant Science Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #128474
Title: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SOYBEAN SEED CELL WALL POLYSACCHARIDES, YIELD, AND SEED TRAITS

Author
item STOMBAUGH, SUSAN - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
item ORF, JAMES - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
item Jung, Hans Joachim
item SOMERS, DAVID - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/15/2003
Publication Date: 3/15/2003
Citation: STOMBAUGH, S.K., ORF, J.H., JUNG, H.G., SOMERS, D.A. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SOYBEAN SEED CELL WALL POLYSACCHARIDES, YIELD, AND SEED TRAITS. CROP SCIENCE. 2003. V. 43. P. 571-576.

Interpretive Summary: Protein and oil are the most commercially valuable components extracted from soybean seeds for use in human and animal nutrition. However, a significant proportion of the soybean seed consists of cell wall components, called polysaccharides, that have much lower nutritional value. Genetic re-programming of soybeans to produce more protein and oil and less scell wall polysaccharides would improve the economic value of this crop. W examined the relationships among the major constituents of cell wall polysaccharides to identify which constituents potentially control the amount of cell wall polysaccharide deposited in soybean seeds and account for other changes in yield of protein and oil in soybean seeds. We found that individual cell wall polysaccharide constituents and specific types of cell wall polysaccharides were both negatively related to the proportion of protein and oil in soybean seeds, and with the total yield of soybeans from mdifferent varieties. If these cell wall polysaccharides and their constituents could be reduced by plant breeding, the yield of protein and oil from soybeans may be increased. These results will assist soybean breeders by providing important new selection criteria in the development of improved varieties.

Technical Abstract: Cell wall polysaccharides (CWP) represent a significant portion of seed dry matter in soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]. We examined whether correlations exist between seed CWP monosaccharides and a range of seed traits. Soybean seed from 13 Minnesota-adapted genotypes grown in 1995 and 1996 at 4 locations were used to study relationships among monosaccharides comprising CWP and between CWP monosaccharides and yield, maturity, seed weight, and protein and oil content. Correlation and regression analysis using CWP monosaccharides were used to form principal components (PCs). PC1 mainly described pectic polysaccharides composed of rhamnose and galactose and was positively correlated with the sum of protein and oil content (protein+oil) (r = 0.58). Because rhamnose and galactose were assigned negative values in PC1, a decrease in these CWP monosaccharides may relate to an increase in protein+oil. Yield was correlated with the ratio of arabinose to galactose (ara/gal) and PC2. Cellulose, hemicellulose, and arabinose-containing polysaccharides as described by PC2 were negatively correlated with yield (r = -0.59), suggesting lower seed content in these CWP relates to an increase in yield. Seed ara/gal was negatively correlated with yield and maturity and may be an indicator of the average stage of seed cell wall development for a genotype at maturity. PCs 2, 3, and 4 combined to form a step-wise regression equation (R2 = 0.69) for seed weight with PC4 providing the most weight in the equation. This result implicates linear and backbone polysaccharides as being most important in relation to seed weight. Lower seed CWP content was correlated with beneficial changes in seed traits suggesting that reducing CWP content may provide additional improvement of these seed traits.