2023
Winter Nursery Support for Soybean Breeding & Genetics
Contributor/Checkoff:
Category:
Sustainable Production
Keywords:
GeneticsGenomics
Lead Principal Investigator:
George Graef, University of Nebraska
Co-Principal Investigators:
Project Code:
704
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
Institution Funded:
Brief Project Summary:
Continuation of the winter nursery program (Puerto Rico and Chile nurseries).
The winter nurseries allow for continuous operations and progress in the breeding program year-round. At the two Chile nurseries, we evaluate 10,000 to 15,000 progeny rows each winter, grow and harvest 5,000 to 8,000 individual plants from new populations to go into progeny row evaluations in Nebraska, and conduct yield tests on high-yielding advanced lines from our program under specific water treatments important for soybean production in Nebraska. At the Puerto Rico nursery, we advance over 200 populations for two generations between October and May, conduct our main crossing for new research and variety development...
Unique Keywords:
#breeding & genetics
Information And Results
Project Summary

Continuation of the winter nursery program (Puerto Rico and Chile nurseries).
The winter nurseries allow for continuous operations and progress in the breeding program year-round. At the two Chile nurseries, we evaluate 10,000 to 15,000 progeny rows each winter, grow and harvest 5,000 to 8,000 individual plants from new populations to go into progeny row evaluations in Nebraska, and conduct yield tests on high-yielding advanced lines from our program under specific water treatments important for soybean production in Nebraska. At the Puerto Rico nursery, we advance over 200 populations for two generations between October and May, conduct our main crossing for new research and variety development for all objectives under the lighted area, and evaluate 4,000 or more progeny rows from our long-term protein and oil improvement populations or thesis research studies. The winter nursery operations accelerate breeding progress by shortening the time for cultivar development. That along with our ability to conduct both phenotypic and genotypic evaluations every season accelerates the genetic gain per year.

Project Objectives

1) Conduct generation advance for soybean breeding and genetics studies to obtain 2 additional generations per year
2) Crossing for development of new populations for breeding and genetics objectives
3) Evaluate progeny rows for selection and advancement to multi-location yield tests
4) Conduct small-scale seed increases for research studies and for specific lines to hasten development and commercial production when appropriate.

Project Deliverables

The winter nursery activities are an integral part of the soybean breeding and genetics program. New varieties and germplasm lines will be released for research and commercial use. Information from basic research, thesis studies, variety development, and performance data will be published in extension and scientific journals where appropriate.

Progress Of Work

Final Project Results

Benefit To Soybean Farmers

-The winter nursery allows us to make full use of our time and resources to improve our realized genetic gain per year.
-It hastens development of research populations and acquisition of results and moves superior soybean varieties to commercial production more quickly.
-The drip study facilities at our Chile nurseries provide valuable information regarding soybean yield and response to water, and we can correlate that response with the line performance in Nebraska production systems. Similar seasonal conditions of heat and water stress help us identify the best new lines for Nebraska producers.

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.