Location: Soybean and Nitrogen Fixation Research
Project Number: 6070-21220-070-090-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jul 1, 2026
End Date: Jun 30, 2030
Objective:
The objective of this research is to generate 150–200 new crosses each year from approximately four parental combinations using four G. soja-derived lines developed by the SNFRU and shared with the Cooperator. All crosses will be advanced and released through the University of Georgia, with participation in regional trials serving North Carolina and southeastern U.S. producers. The goal is to identify lines that capture beneficial diversity from G. soja while exhibiting high yield, broad adaptation, herbicide tolerance and strong agronomic performance across the southeastern United States.
Approach:
The SNFRU conducts a continuous, cyclic breeding effort to develop and release high-yielding, disease-resistant, and stress-tolerant soybean varieties adapted to North Carolina and the broader Southeastern U.S. Expanding the genetic base of cultivated soybean is a long-standing priority, and G. soja offers novel alleles for yield stability and abiotic and biotic stress tolerance that are rare or absent in elite germplasm. Realizing this potential on producers' farms requires that G. soja-derived diversity be moved into agronomically desirable, market-compatible backgrounds. The SNFRU has developed four advanced G. soja-derived lines through multiple cycles of breeding and selection, and will share these lines with the Cooperator for use in the collaborative crossing program. The Cooperator maintains elite recurrent parents adapted to the southeastern U.S., including parents carrying herbicide tolerance traits, multiple disease resistance, and high yield potential, as well as the facilities and personnel needed to support a high-volume crossing program. Through this collaboration, the SNFRU and the Cooperator will combine G. soja-derived diversity with elite adapted backgrounds to deliver lines that farmers can readily integrate into existing production systems.