2018
Flood Tolerant Varieties for NC - Building on Success
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Contributor/Checkoff:
North Carolina Soybean Producers Association
Category:
Sustainable Production
Keywords:
GeneticsGenomics
Parent Project:
This is the first year of this project.
Lead Principal Investigator:
Tommy Carter, North Carolina State University
Co-Principal Investigators:
Project Code:
18-033
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
North Carolina Soybean Producers Association
$30,000
Institution Funded:
North Carolina State University
$30,000
Brief Project Summary:

North Carolina soybeans are vulnerable to wet weather and flooding, which can happen at any time during the growing season. Flooding and/or saturated soils can reduce oxygen supply to the roots, which can cause a buildup of toxic respired carbon dioxide in the soil and promote root diseases like Phytophthora. The goal of this research builds on previous projects and continues developing high yielding, flood-tolerant soybean varieties specifically for North Carolina farmers. Efforts validate the response of locally adapted breeding lines identified as having flood tolerance for release. They also evaluate soybean genotypes for their ability to withstand waterlogging in comparison to partial shoot submergence and assess the physiological basis for superior flood tolerance.

Key Benefactors:
farmers, agronomists, extension agents, soybean breeders, seed companies

Information And Results
Final Project Results

Updated October 10, 2019:

View uploaded report PDF file

Soybean varieties in NC do not tolerate wet feet--or more precisely--wet roots very well. When farmers experience excessively wet springs and summers, especially in the eastern and northeastern part of the state, chronic wet roots cause slow grow-off, poor leaf color, and spindly plants. Getting yields greater than 45 bushels/acre under those conditions is a challenge, even when all other production aspects are perfect. New discoveries in Arkansas and Missouri, where flooding and wet feet are even more common than in North Carolina, give hope that this problem can be overcome. Some soybean varieties have been shown to handle extra water much better than others in the field. New Mid-South varieties now on the way appear to be even better than the existing stocks. The big question for North Carolina farmers is:“Will this new Mid-South technology really show a payoff in our NC fields?” Given that the past three seasons have been very wet in NC, we certainly hope so! The North Carolina Soybean Producers Association is joining forces with the USDA-ARS and NC State University to explore the potential of this new flood tolerance technology.

The United Soybean Research Retention policy will display final reports with the project once completed but working files will be purged after three years. And financial information after seven years. All pertinent information is in the final report or if you want more information, please contact the project lead at your state soybean organization or principal investigator listed on the project.