Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Soybean genetic progress in South Brazil: physiological, phenological and agronomic traits

  • Published:
Euphytica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Yield increase in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] has occurred due to plant breeding, as well as the improvement in management practices. Genetic gain for important traits in soybean due to plant breeding in South Brazil has not been evaluated. The objective of this study was to measure the genetic progress of several soybean agronomic, phenological and physiological traits, in a historical set of cultivars released for cultivation in South Brazil from 1965 to 2011. Twenty-nine cultivars were evaluated in a three replicate randomized complete block design at two locations in the 2016/17 crop season. Mean genetic gain for yield was 40.06 kg ha−1 year−1 averaged across locations. The modern cultivars had higher biological yield (BY), harvest index (HI), number of pods per plant (NPP), and lower number of branches per plant, plant height, and lodging score compared to older releases. There was a reduction in the vegetative period, and increase in ratio between reproductive and vegetative periods (R/V). Photosynthetic rate (PN) and transpiration rate (Tr) also increased with year of release. The traits BY, NPP, HI, R/V, number of seeds per pod, PN, Tr, and chlorophyll content (Chl a and b) was highly associated with seed yield. Breeding strategies that maximize the R/V ratio, and prioritize indirect selection through HI, BY, NPP, PN, Tr, and Chl a and b, will likely contribute to improving soybean yield in the future.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Blum A (2005) Drought resistance, water-use efficiency, and yield potential are they compatible, dissonant, or mutually exclusive? Aust J Agric Res 56:1159–1168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cui SY, Yu DY (2005) Estimates of relative contribution of biomass, harvest index and yield components to soybean yield improvements in China. Plant Breeding 124:473–476

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cui X, Dong Y, Gi P, Wang W, Xu K, Zhang Z (2016) Relationship between root vigour, photosynthesis and biomass in soybean cultivars during 87 years of genetic improvement in the northern China. Photosynthetica 54:81–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Bruin JL, Pedersen P (2009) New and old soybean cultivars responses to plant density and intercepted light. Crop Sci 49:2225–2232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Felipe M, Gerde JA, Rotundo JL (2016) Soybean genetic gain in maturity groups III to V in Argentina from 1980 to 2015. Crop Sci 56:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FAO—Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://www.fao.org/americas/noticias/ver/en/c/904161/. Accessed 28 Dec 2017

  • Fehr WR, Caviness CE (1977) Stages of Soybean development. Special report 80. Cooperation Extension Service, Agriculture and Home Economic Experiment Station. Iowa State University, Ames

  • Fox CM, Cary TR, Colgrove AL, Nafziger ED, Haudenshield JS, Hartman GL, Specht JE, Diers BW (2013) Estimating soybean genetic gain for yield in the Northern United States: influence of cropping history. Crop Sci 53:2473–2482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jin J, Liu X, Wang G, Mi L, Shen Z, Chen X, Herbert SJ (2010) Agronomic and physiological contributions to the yield improvement of soybean cultivars released from 1950 to 2006 in Northeast China. Field Crops Res 115:116–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahlon CS, Board JE (2012) Growth dynamic factors explaining yield improvement in new versus old soybean cultivars. J Crop Improv 26:282–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koester RP, Skoneczka JA, Cary TR, Diers BW, Ainsworth EA (2014) Historical gains in soybean (Glycine max Merr.) seed yield are driven by linear increases in light interception, energy conversion, and partitioning efficiencies. J Exp Bot 65:3311–3321

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koester RP, Nohl BM, Diers BW, Ainsworth EA (2016) Has photosynthetic capacity increaser with 80 years of soybean breeding? An examination of historical soybean cultivars. Plant, Cell Environ 39:1058–1067

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kumudini S, Hume DJ, Chu G (2001) Genetic improvement in short season soybeans: I. Dry matter accumulation, partitioning, and leaf area duration. Crop Sci 41:391–398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu G, Yang C, Xu K, Zhang Z, Li D, Wu Z, Chen Z (2012) Development of yield and some photosynthetic characteristics during 82 years of genetic improvement of soybean genotypes in northeast China. Aust J Crop Sci 6:1416–1422

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Morrison MJ, Voldeng HD, Cober ER (1999) Physiological changes from 58 years of genetic improvement of short-season soybean cultivars in Canada. Agron J 91:685–689

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morrison MJ, Voldeng HD, Cober ER (2000) Agronomic changes from 58 years of genetic improvement of short-season soybean cultivars in Canada. Agron J 92:780–784

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qin X, Feng F, Li D, Herbert SJ, Liao Y, Siddique KHM (2017) Changes in yield and agronomic traits of soybean cultivars released in China in the last 60 years. Crop Pasture Sci 68:973–984

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2017) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. https://www.R-project.org/

  • Ramteke R, Gupta GK, Murlidharan P, Sharma SK (2011) Genetic progress of soybean varieties released during 1969–2008 in India. Indian J Genet Plant Breed 71:333–340

    Google Scholar 

  • Ray DK, Mueller ND, West PC, Foley JA (2013) Yield trends are insufficient to double global crop production by 2050. PLoS ONE 8:1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Rincker K, Nelson R, Specht J, Sleper D, Cary T, Cianzio SR, Casteel S, Conley S, Chen P, Davis V, Fox C, Graef G, Godsey C, Holshouser D, Jiang GL, Kantartzi SK, Kenworthy W, Lee C, Mian R, Mchale L, Naeve S, Orf J, Poysa V, Schapaugh W, Shannon G, Uniatowski R, Wang D, Diers B (2014) Genetic improvement of US soybean in maturity groups II, III, and IV. Crop Sci 54:1419–1432

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers J, Chen P, Shi A, Zhang B, Scaboo A, Smith F, Zeng A (2014) Agronomic performance and genetic progress of selected historical soybean varieties in the southern USA. Plant Breed 134:85–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowntree SC, Suhre JJ, Weidenbenner NH, Wilson EW, Davis VM, Naeve SL, Casteed SN, Diers BW, Esker PD, Conley SP (2014) Physiological and phenological responses of historical soybean cultivar releases to earlier planting. Crop Sci 54:804–816

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suhre JJ, Weidenbenner NH, Rowntree SC, Wilson EW, Naeve SL, Conley SP, Casteel SN, Diers BW, Esker PD, Specht JE, Davis VM (2014) Soybean yield partitioning changes revealed by genetic gain and seeding rate interactions. Agron J 106:1631–1642

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ustun A, Allen FL, English BC (2001) Genetic progress in soybean of the US mid-south. Crop Sci 41:993–998

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y, Cheng L, Leng J, Wu C, Shao G, Hou W, Han T (2015) Genetic analysis and quantitative trait locus identification of the reproductive to vegetative growth period ratio in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.). Euphytica 201:275–284

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang C, Wu T, Sun S, Xu R, Ren J, Wu C, Jiang B, Hou W, Han T (2016) Seventy-five years of improvement of yield and agronomic traits of soybean cultivars released in the yellow-huai-hai river valley. Crop Sci 56:2354–2364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilcox JR (2001) Sixty years of improvement in publicly developed elite soybean lines. Crop Sci 49:1711–1716

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu T, Sun S, Wang C, Lu W, Sun B, Song X, Han X, Guo T, Man W, Cheng Y, Niu J, Fu L, Song W, Jiang B, Hou W, Wu C, Han T (2015) Characterizing changes from a century of genetic improvement of soybean cultivars in Northeast China. Crop Sci 55:2056–2067

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yan W (2001) GGEbiplot: a windows application for graphical analysis of multienvironment trial data and other types of two-way data. Agron J 93:1111–1118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yan W, Kang MS (2003) GGE biplot analysis: a graphical tool for breeders, geneticists and agronomists, 1st edn. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoo CY, Pence HE, Hasegawa PM, Mickelbart MV (2009) Regulation of transpiration to improve crop water use. Crit Rev Plant Sci 28:410–431

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu XG, Long SP, Ort DR (2010) Improving photosynthetic efficiency for greater yield. PubMed 61:35–61

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for granting masters and doctoral scholarships.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Agronomia, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Via do Conhecimento, Km 01, Pato Branco, PR, CEP 85503-390, Brazil

    Matheus Henrique Todeschini, Anderson Simionato Milioli, Ana Claudia Rosa, Lucas Vinícius Dallacorte, Maiara Cecilia Panho, Jose Abramo Marchese & Giovani Benin

Authors
  1. Matheus Henrique Todeschini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anderson Simionato Milioli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ana Claudia Rosa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lucas Vinícius Dallacorte
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Maiara Cecilia Panho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jose Abramo Marchese
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Giovani Benin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giovani Benin.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Todeschini, M.H., Milioli, A.S., Rosa, A.C. et al. Soybean genetic progress in South Brazil: physiological, phenological and agronomic traits. Euphytica 215, 124 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-019-2439-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-019-2439-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation