Location: Soybean and Nitrogen Fixation Research
Project Number: 6070-21220-070-024-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2022
End Date: Mar 31, 2024
Objective:
High yielding soybean cultivars with high (20.5%) oil are desirable for production of biodiesel. The demand for biodiesel is on the rise due the increase in energy prices.
Our objective: Develop soybean varieties with >20.5% seed oil (13% moisture basis) and competitive seed yield with commercial check cultivars.
Approach:
The seed oil of commercial cultivars, based on 13% moisture, is between 18 and 19%. Our advanced breeding lines from high yielding x high oil crosses will be evaluated in the USDA Uniform Tests against the commercial checks in the respective tests. Breeding lines with competitive seed yield with the commercial checks and >20.5% seed oil, based on 20 environments in the Uniform tests, will be released as high yielding high oil varieties. The preliminary breeding lines from additional high yielding x high oil crosses will be evaluated in our internal yield trials at 6 locations in North Carolina with commercial checks. The seed yield and seed oil of the breeding lines will be compared with the checks in the respective test and lines with competitive yield with the checks and >20.5% oil, based on 6 environments, will be advanced to the USDA Uniform tests for further evaluation.
