Wednesday, November 7, 2007
258-11
Yield Potential and Agronomic Performance of Historical Soybean Cultivars Under Modern Cultivation Conditions.
Anfu Hou1, Pengyin Chen1, Tetsuaki Ishibashi1, Leandro Mozzoni1, Brian Cornelius2, Ainong Shi1, Bo Zhang1, and Caroline Gray1. (1) University of Arkansas, 115 Plant Science Bldg, Fayetteville, AR 72701, (2) Mertec, LLC, 5312 I 55, Marion, AR 72364
Evaluation of historical cultivars for yield potential and other agronomic traits under modern production conditions will help to assess the genetic diversity of gene pool and select valuable parental lines for crossing in future soybean breeding. Forty four US soybean cultivars released from 1927 to 2005 were investigated in Arkansas in 2004, 2005, and 2006. The field experiment was conducted at three locations with three replications in a RCB design. Traits evaluated included maturity, lodging, shattering, plant height, seed size, protein and oil content, and seed yield. The average maturity dates varied from 85 (Williams) to 127 days (CNS). Lodging occurred and differentiated among genotypes, locations, and years. Severe shattering was observed in a few cultivars only in 2006. The averaged seed size ranged from 10.8 to 15.9 g/100 seeds. Protein content varied from 38.5 to 49.8% with an average of 41.4%. Oil content ranged from 17.8 to 23.6%. Significant yield variation was observed with the highest yield obtained for 5601T, Ozark, and UA4805 (50-52 bushels/acre), and lowest for CNS, Hill, and Williams (23-29 bushels/acre). Significant interactions existed in cultivar x year, year x location, cultivar x location, and cultivar x year x location. Details of this research will be presented.