Location: Soybean/maize Germplasm, Pathology, and Genetics Research
2022 Annual Report
Accomplishments
1. Facilitated public, industry, domestic and international research with the USDA Soybean Germplasm Collection. ARS researchers in Urbana, Illinois, distributed 21,985 seed packets involving 14,204 unique accessions through 358 requests, (including 26 international requests) to remain one of the only germplasm collections nationwide to distribute roughly as many seed packets as accessions maintained. Seed requestors are diverse in research goals and include applied plant breeding and screening for disease and pest resistance as well as basic research including genome sequencing, genetic mapping, and taxonomy studies. They rely on the availability of seed and information (nearly one million data points representing 180 traits) which ARS researchers in Urbana, Illinois, diligently maintain and develop. Impacts of such research on a global commodity such as soybean will include improvements in yield, nutrition (protein, oil, amino acids, etc) resiliency to climate change, emerging pests and diseases and other research objectives.
