New Soybean Germplasm with Multiple Pest Resistance
JTN-4307 is a conventional (non-GMO) MG V soybean genotype that has resistance to races 2, 3, and 14 of soybean cyst nematode (SCN), reniform nematode, and southern root knot nematode. It exhibits exceptional resistance to frogeye leaf spot and stem canker, and moderate resistance to charcoal rot and Phomopsis seed decay under normal harvest conditions.
Current soybean varieties do not possess combined resistance to these nematode and disease pests. Thus, this germplasm line represents a significant new tool that is available for use in the development of new varieties.
Even though this release notice touts this new genotype as a germplasm line, it is actually a conventional variety that has exhibited moderate yield potential in both the Tennessee Soybean Variety Performance Tests and the USDA Soybean Uniform Tests that were conducted in 28 locations across the southeastern US. However, its yields in the 2012 and 2013 Tennessee tests were not at the level of the highest-yielding varieties and lines in those tests.
Thus, its value will be as parent material for variety development in soybean breeding programs. This has become the strong point of USDA-ARS soybean breeding and genetics research.
The germplasm lines released from these public programs usually provide unique pest resistance and/or quality traits. Thus, the genetics research conducted by USDA-ARS scientists produces an invaluable source of otherwise unavailable traits that are important in the development of new varieties. However, and regrettably, these contributions are not attributed to their source when new varieties are released by private companies.
The underlying purpose of this article is to inform producers of just how important the above contribution and others like it from the public soybean breeding sector are to the soybean industry. The desirable resistance and quality traits contained in their released germplasm lines are often used by commercial companies in the development of their new varieties, but these companies do not reveal the source of genetics that are incorporated into those new varieties. Thus, the contribution of products from public breeding programs often is not accounted for when a new variety is released.
But rest assured that their products have been and will remain a significant component of most new soybean varieties that become available from the various private sector breeding programs in the US.
Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, Apr. 2014, larryheatherly@bellsouth.net