Abstract
Plant height and node number are important agronomic traits that influence yield in soybean (Glycine max L.). Here, to better understand the genetic basis of the traits, we used two recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations to detect quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with plant height and node number in different environments. This analysis detected 9 and 21 QTLs that control plant height and node number, respectively. Among them, we identified two genomic regions that overlap with Determinate stem 1 (Dt1) and Dt2, which are known to influence both plant height and node number. Furthermore, different combinations of Dt1 and Dt2 alleles were enriched in distinct latitudes. In addition, we determined that the QTLs qPH-13-SE and qPH-13-DW in the two RIL populations overlap with genomic intervals associated with plant height and the QTL qNN-04-DW overlaps with an interval associated with node number. Combining the dwarf allele of qPH-13-SE/qPH-13-DW and the multiple-node allele of qNN-04-DW produced plants with ideal plant architecture, i.e., shorter main stems with more nodes. This plant type may help increase yield at high planting density. This study thus provides candidate loci for breeding elite soybean cultivars for plant height and node number.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge Mrs. Yafeng Liu and Mrs. Xiaomei Ren for phenotyping and managing the plants in the field.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31901569, 31725021, 31930083). This work was also funded by the Major Program of Guangdong Basic and Applied Research (2019B030302006).
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Q.C., B.L., and S.L. supervised the experiment. L.K. and Y.W. performed the research. L.K. analyzed the data with the help of X.Y. L.K. wrote the draft manuscript with input from F.K., D.D., and Q.C. C.F., L.C., R.F., and Y.L. assisted in editing the manuscript. Y.W. managed the field research and plant propagation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Kong, L., Wang, Y., Chen, L. et al. Candidate loci for breeding compact plant-type soybean varieties. Mol Breeding 43, 6 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-022-01352-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-022-01352-2