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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Raleigh, North Carolina » Soybean and Nitrogen Fixation Research » Research » Research Project #439441

Research Project: Drought Resiliency for the Farm-Yield Limitations of Commercial Soybean Varieties Under Drought (Year 3 of a 3-year project - AR)

Location: Soybean and Nitrogen Fixation Research

Project Number: 6070-21220-069-086-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Oct 1, 2020
End Date: Sep 30, 2021

Objective:
Develop drought-tolerant cultivars adapted to locations in Arkansas and other drought-prone U.S. environments that will aid farmers with variety choices and guide new public-private breeding efforts to fix the drought problem.

Approach:
Yield test at least 60 commercial varieties under drought from maturity groups IV and V plus checks in four replications at the Rice Research and Extension Center at Stuttgart, AR in standard yield plots. Wilting scores will be recorded. A drone equipped with a thermal camera and another drone equipped with a multi-spectral sensor will be flown at the same time the field is being rated, in order to capture canopy temperature, as well as to calculate various vegetative indices. Yield data will be collected. Evaluate approximately 30 new advanced high-yielding lines derived from drought tolerant parents exhibiting the slow-wilting and/or N-fixation trait in replicated and irrigated and dryland trials arranged side-by-side at Stuttgart, AR. Collect wilting and yield data, calculate yield reduction under drought, and correlate yield with slow wilting. The best performing lines with high yield along with the drought traits will be released as germplasm.