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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Raleigh, North Carolina » Soybean and Nitrogen Fixation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #206167
Title: REGISTRATION OF SOYBEAN CULTIVAR ‘N7002’

Author
item Carter Jr, Thomas
item Burton, Joseph
item Fountain, Myron
item Rzewnicki, Philippe
item Villagarcia, Margarita
item BOWMAN, DARYL - NC STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Registrations
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/15/2007
Publication Date: 9/15/2007
Citation: Carter Jr, T.E., Burton, J.W., Fountain, M.O., Rzewnicki, P.E., Villagarcia, M.R., Bowman, D.T. 2007. Registration of soybean cultivar ‘N7002’. Journal of Plant Registrations, 1:93-94.

Interpretive Summary: Soybean breeding is a true success story in U.S. agriculture. Since World War II, soybean breeding has raised farm yields 25% and provided farmers with genetic protection for an array of important diseases. The current vitality enjoyed by the soybean industry is due largely to successes in the breeding arena. More than 40 commercial companies and public institutions now develop varieties for the 70+ million acres of U.S. soybean. Despite the remarkable achievements of U.S. soybean breeding, it is more difficult each year to maintain a competitive edge against international producers. U.S. breeders are attempting to solve this problem, using an important tactic known as offensive breeding (raising the genetic yield ceiling for soybean production). Current research suggests that U.S. breeders now have the opportunity to enhance our offensive breeding capabilities by tapping into the reservoir of global genetic diversity that exists in soybean. Dr. Carter has been conducting an extensive breeding program to do just this. This effort has led to the release of an exciting new soybean cultivar which is a top yielder and also brings an important new source of genetic diversity to the farmer. This cultivar, N7002, is one of the few soybean cultivars to be released with 25% exotic germplasm in its pedigree. This cultivar is not only valuable as product for the farmer to grow but also provides a proof of concept for other breeders who seek to speed up their breeding programs. It is expected that this new cultivar will be used widely in the commercial sector as a parent in future breeding efforts.

Technical Abstract: Soybean cultivar N7002 was cooperatively developed and released by the USDA-Agricultural Research Service and the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service. It is a determinate group VII maturity soybean cultivar that has excellent yield potential. Twenty-five percent of its parentage is exotic germplasm. Few soybean cultivars produced in USA have this level of genetic diversity, and thus, its release broadens the genetic base of soybean cultivars. N7002 is adapted to the southern USA (30º to 37º N latitude) or wherever cultivars of group VII maturity are produced. N7002 is derived from the cross of USDA cultivar ‘N7001’ and ‘Cook’. N7001 was the first public cultivar released in the USA with Plant Introduction (PI) 416937 in its pedigree. The PI 416937, a landrace from Japan, appears distinctly different from the previous ancestors of North American soybean in that it has much larger leaves and a more prolific rooting system. Cook was derived from the cross of cultivars ‘Braxton’ and ‘Young’. Averaged over 56 environments, the seed yield of N7002 (3,202 kg ha-1) was greater than that of standard cultivars Benning (2,937 kg ha-1) or Haskell (2,961 kg ha-1). The 100-seed weight of N7002 (13.2 g) was smaller than that of Benning (14.8 g) or Haskell (15.1 g). Seed protein content of N7002 averaged 409 g kg-1 on a zero moisture basis, which was higher than Haskell (399 g kg-1) but similar to Benning (403 g kg-1). N7002 had less seed oil content (196 g kg-1) than Benning (204 g kg-1) and was similar to that of Haskell (198 g kg-1).