Two high-yielding varieties of soybeans proposed for
release this year are the latest developments in a University
of Arkansas Division of Agriculture breeding program
that seeks every possible advantage for Arkansas producers.
The new varieties, Caviness and UARK-5798, are Group
V soybeans with good disease resistance, says Clay Sneller,
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station soybean breeder.
"Caviness has been of great interest in Arkansas and
throughout the South," Sneller says. "It grows well
almost everywhere, and it almost always out-yields Hutchinson
by three or four bushels.
"UARK-5798 gives good yields in the right soils, particularly
in rice soils and the Delta soils of Mississippi," he
says. "It does well at Pine Tree and Stuttgart, for
example. It is susceptible to sudden death syndrome,
but it grows tall and yields well in areas where beans
have trouble getting tall." Sneller is looking for ways
to increase the genetic diversity of Arkansas soybean
varieties by developing lines of new germplasm in a
program supported by the Arkansas Soybean Promotion
Board.
"Since about 1950, the southern soybean gene pool has
pretty much been set," he says. "On average, the soybean
breeding lines in Arkansas are as closely related as
we are to our brothers and sisters.
"For stress tolerance in particular, the current gene
pool doesn't give us much to work with," he says. "But
there's a lot of genetic diversity out there that can
be crossed with southern varieties."
Sneller is working with soybean physiologist Larry
Purcell to develop varieties that can tolerate drought
and floods. Disease resistance is also important, but
yield remains a priority in all U of A breeding efforts.
"Yield is still the No. 1 trait we breed for," he says.
"Anytime I'm looking for valuable traits like drought
tolerance, I want, ultimately, to cross them into a
high-yielding line, either from the U of A program or
from cooperating public programs in other states.
"We're also seeking novel ways to build up yields,
such as building diversity within our lines by adding
high-yield genes from varieties from the northern U.S.
and other countries."
Sneller says the U of A's public breeding program
is important because it can address concerns such as
drought tolerance that may not be particularly profitable
for commercial breeding programs.
"Public varieties also give farmers options not available
from commercial seed companies," he says. "For example,
some farmers like to save seed from one crop for planting
the following year. Seed companies are putting a halt
to this to protect patents on their own varieties.
"Thanks to support from the Arkansas Soybean Promotion
Board, we're able to spend resources on long-term research
that's important to Arkansas farmers."
Soybeans Today January 2000
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