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Develop food quality soybean cultivars and germplasm with improved yield and pest resistance for domestic and export markets

Principal Investigators: Kangfu Yu and Lorna Woodrow

Research Institution: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Timeline: April 2013 – March 2018

Objectives:

  • Develop food quality soybean cultivars and germplasm with improved yield and pest resistance in the maturity group (MG) 1.8 and later maturity areas in Ontario, for domestic and export markets.
  • Develop and apply breeding technologies to facilitate selection for improved food quality.
  • Evaluate food type soybean germplasm for resistance to soybean cyst nematode (SCN), soybean aphids (SA) and sudden death syndrome (SDS).

Impacts:

  • The project has released three new varieties – AAC Stein and AAC26-15 are now commercially available while OX-172 is in the process of commercialization. These offer growers new varieties with good food qualities, high yields and SCN resistance.
  • The project developed and registered five speciality soybean germplasm sources for private and public breeding programs. The germplasm has characteristics of lipoxygenase free (HS-151), making softer tofu (HS 161) and firmer tofu (HS 162), large seed edamame (HS 171) and black seed for douche (HS-172).
  • MgC12, a new coagulant, was introduced for screening advanced soybean lines that will help end users (Japan, China) evaluate new Canadian soybean varieties for tofu processing in markets that use this coagulant.
  • A new criterion to evaluate tofu quality – springiness – was incorporated into the evaluation protocol of the breeding program to effectively distinguish texture quality in soybeans.

Scientific Summary:

Results:

Variety development

New soybean varieties were developed and released through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) and Request for Proposal (RFP) programs, as well as a few varieties released for commercial development.

VarietyCharacteristics
AAC SteinCommercially registered to SG Ceresco Company in 2014High yielding, high protein soybean for making tofu and soy milkMG 2.8
AAC 26-15Commercially registered to SeCan in 2015 High yielding, high protein, SCN-resistant soybean for making tofu and soy milkMG 2.3
HS-151Registered and released to Plant Gene Resources of Canada (PGRC) in 2016Produces soy milk with less beany flavours MG 2.2
HS-161Registered and released to PGRC in 2016Well suited for making soft tofuMG 2.4
HS-162Registered and released to PGRC in 2016Well suited for making firmer tofuMG 2.4
OX 172Licensed to SeCan in 2017High yielding, high protein, SCN-resistant soybean for making tofu and soy milkMG 2.2
HS-171Registered and released to PGRC in 2017High protein, high sucrose, large seed soybean for use at fresh green stage as edamameMG 2.6
HS-172 Registered and released to PGRC in 2017High sucrose, large seed black bean for douche (fermented, salt-preserved black soybean)MG2.5

Breeding technology

Four new molecular markers were developed to determine soybean protein profiles. The markers were used to screen hundreds of soybean lines for protein profiles that affect tofu and soymilk quality, and significantly speed up the ability to select and breed for specific proteins. The new process improves the plant breeding process by eliminating the need to wait until plant seeds are harvested in the fall to isolate the seed storage protein of a soybean line.

Pest resistance

Two soybean lines with potential resistance to soybean aphids were obtained from several breeders and tested against biotypes present in southwestern Ontario.  Eleven soybean varieties released through AAFC MTA and/or RFP had SCN resistance.

Successes

This project released three new varieties – AAC Stein and AAC26-15 – are now commercially available, and OX-172 is in the process of commercialization – offering growers new varieties with good food qualities, high yields and SCN resistance.

This project also developed and registered five specialty soybean germplasm sources for private and public breeding programs. The germplasm has characteristics of lipoxygenase free (HS-151), making softer tofu (HS 161) and firmer tofu (HS 162), large seed edamame (HS 171) and black seed for douche (HS-172).

A new coagulant (MgC12) was introduced for screening advanced soybean lines that will help end users (Japan, China) evaluate new Canadian soybean varieties for tofu processing in markets that use this coagulant. And a new criterion to evaluate tofu quality – springiness – was incorporated into the evaluation protocol of the breeding program to effectively distinguish texture quality in soybeans.

External Funding Partners:

This research activity was part of the Canadian Field Crop Genetics Improvement Cluster led by the Canadian Field Crop Research Alliance (CFCRA).

Funding for this project was provided in part by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Growing Forward 2 (GF2) AgriInnovation Program and in part by CFCRA members. Grain Farmers of Ontario is a founding member of the CFCRA.

Project Related Publications:

Cooper, S.G., Concibido, V.C., Estes, R., Hunt, D.W.A., Jiang, G., Krupke, C.H., McCornack, B., Mian, R., O’Neal, M., Poysa, V., Voldseth, D.P., Ragsdale, D., Tinsley, N., and Wang, D. 2015. Geographic distribution of soybean aphid biotypes in the United States and Canada during 2008–2010. Crop Science. 55(6), pp. 2598-2608.

Poysa, V., Woodrow, L., and Yu, K. 2013. AAC Malden soybean. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 93, pp. 1277-1279.

Wang, Y., Xiao, X., Zhang, T.Q., Kang, H., Zeng, J., Fan, X., Sha, L., Zhang, H., Yu, K., and Zhou, Y. 2014. Cadmium treatment alters the expression of five genes at the cda1 locus in two soybean cultivars [Glycine Max (L.) Merr]. The Scientific World Journal. 2014 (Article ID 979750), pp. 1-8.

Wang, Y., Xiao, X., Kang, H., Zeng, J., Fan, X., Sha, L., Zhang, H., Yu, K., and Zhou, Y.H. 2013. Alteration of Water and Dry Matter Content in Soybean Exposed to Cadmium. American-Eurasian Journal of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences. 13(5), pp. 606-610.

Yu, K., Woodrow, L., and Poysa, V. 2016. Registration of lipoxygenase free food grade soybean Germplasm, HS-151. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, 96(1), pp. 148-150.

Yu, K., Woodrow, L., Shi, C. Anderson, D. and Poysa, V. 2016. Registration of 7S β-conglycinin α′ and 11S glycinin A3 null food grade soybean Germplasm, HS-161. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. Published on the web 21 October 2016, 10.1139/CJPS-2016-0249.

Yu, K., Woodrow, L., Shi, C. Anderson, D. and Poysa, V. 2016. Registration of 7S β-conglycinin α’ and 11S glycinin A4 null food grade soybean Germplasm, HS-162. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, Published on the web. 23 December 2016, 10.1139/CJPS-2016-0327.

Yu, K., Woodrow, L., and Poysa, V. 2015. AAC 26-15 soybean. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 95(2), pp. 441-443.

Yu, K., Woodrow, L. and Poysa, V. 2014. AAC 16-15 soybean. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, (in press).

Yu, K., Woodrow, L. and Poysa, V. 2014. AAC Stern soybean. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 94, pp. 457-459.

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