Marker assisted selection for seed yield in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] plant row yield trials

Quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling seed yield in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] have been difficult to confirm among populations. Our objective was to determine whether a method of marker-assisted selection (MAS) for seed yield in elite lines would be applicable to selection in soybean plant row yield trials (PRYTs). Lines from two populations with elite parents were grown in PRYTs in 2008 and tested with markers to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with seed yield. The first population was tested with 53 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and the second population with 26 SNP markers. F-tests were conducted to determine which loci were significantly associated with seed yield in the PRYTs. Lines from each population were then selected from the PRYTs to form five groups from each population: high and low seed yield phenotypes, high and low seed yield genotypes, and random. The five groups from each population were planted at eight diverse locations in 2009. In one population, the mean of the genotypic high group was not statistically different than the phenotypic high group. In the other population, the mean of the genotypic high group was within 90 kg/ha-1 of the mean of the phenotypic high group and was superior to the random group for seed yield. Even with the limited marker coverage, the genotypic selection method used in this study successfully identified lines in PRYTs that would not have been selected due to poor seed yield performance in 2008