Update:

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July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020 Annual Report: Breeding of Improved Non-GMO Cultivars and Germplasm

Principal Investigator: Dr. Ted Helms, Department of Plant Sciences, North Dakota State University – Cooperating Scientists: Dr. Berlin Nelson, Department of Plant Pathology, North Dakota State University

This research had four broad objectives which included: i) to increase yield on IDC-prone soils and increase profit on those problem soils; ii) to enable private companies and growers to compare yield of SCN-resistant cultivars on sites that are infested with SCN; iii) provide soybean growers in North Dakota with cultivars which are genetically superior to cultivars that are currently grown; iv) collection of grain samples from the Variety Fee Tests and reporting the protein and oil data in the NDSU Soybean Performance bulletin

Growers benefit when varieties from different companies are compared at the same field sites because this enables growers to increase yield on fields that have soil or pest problems. In 2019, yield data was collected on 40 private company Xtend, Enlist and RR2 varieties at one site that had IDC symptoms, which was the Erie, ND site. Due to excessive rainfall, the IDC yield trial plots were not harvested at the Leonard, Colfax and Hunter, ND iron-deficiency chlorosis test sites.

In 2019, four sites that were infested with Soybean Cyst Nematode (SCN) were planted with 36 Xtend, Enlist and RR2 company varieties to test for SCN resistance. The four SCN-infested soil test sites included Hillsboro, Colfax, Galesburg, and Prosper, ND. The Hillsboro and Prosper sites could not be harvested, due to excessive rainfall. Averaged across the Colfax and Galesburg, ND test sites, yield of the lowest yielding cultivar was at 27.4 and the best performing cultivar yielded 54.1 bu/acre. An additional experiment was planted to evaluate six non-GMO cultivars at four sites that were infested with SCN. This data was published in the ‘North Dakota Soybean Performance Bulletin (A-843) and also online.

In 2019, grain samples for protein and oil analyses were collected for all company varieties entered in the Colfax, ND testing site. The Arthur, LaMoure, Grandin, Fairmount, and Milnor, ND sites were not sampled for protein and oil analysis this year due to the very late fall harvest and the need to complete harvest as quickly as possible. These samples were analyzed and the data was reported in the ‘North Dakota Soybean Performance Bulletin (A-843)’.

A new variety ‘ND Dickey’ was released in January of 2020. ND Dickey is a non-GMO variety with high-yield, good IDC tolerance, resistance to lodging, and resistance to race 3, 7, 17, and 25 of phytophthora root rot. ND Dickey yielded 3.4 bu/A more than ‘ND Stutsman’ and matured the same day. ND Dickey has a relative maturity of 0.7 and has yield that is very competitive with recently released private company GMO types.

The NDSU breeding program provides growers with the option of growing non-GMO varieties. Growers have the option of purchasing non-GMO varieties that have been developed by North Dakota State University without paying a ‘technology fee’ and can then save their own seed. Past success by NDSU in development of non-GMO varieties for the oilseed market includes ‘ND Rolette’, and ‘ND Dickey’. The non-GMO varieties developed by NDSU provide growers with an alternative to the use of glyphosate and permit different herbicides to be rotated in soybean fields across different years.