Winners in the Research Category

Soybean Dollars Help Deliver Champion Results

There may be no hall of fame for soybean research success stories, but certainly scientists have delivered some home run results during the last couple of decades.

Since the inception of the national soybean checkoff program in 1992, production research has been able to more efficiently focus on those projects that help soybean farmers directly enhance soybean yield potential and profitability.  About $37 million was invested last year through the soybean checkoff in more than 550 projects.

“An important success story in my mind is just the total soybean checkoff program funding effort,” says Keith Smith, Keith Smith & Associates, Farmington, Mo.  “Through the checkoff, soybean farmers help set the research agenda.  Without the funding, soybean research would have been funded at a much lower dollar level, priorities might have been determined by non-farmers, or many projects would have gone unfunded.”

David Wright, Iowa Soybean Association director of contract research who heads the North Central Soybean Research Program (NCSRP), agrees the checkoff has helped champion useful production research results, especially in the soybean diseases and pest area.  Also important are the Extension soybean specialists who even under tight budget restraints transfer important research knowledge to Iowa and Illinois farmers.

“Palle Pedersen at Iowa State University and Vince Davis at the University of Illinois are important links between research results and on-farm use of those results,” Wright says. “Soybean farmers are working with researchers to set the research agenda.  That is even more critical now, with reduced federal and state funding for agricultural research.”

Here are some recent research successes where the checkoff helped make a difference:

Soybean Genome Project

Many scientists at Iowa State University, the University of Illinois and other Midwest locations have been involved with soybean genome projects.  One major project, lead by Randy Shoemaker, USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) agronomist at Iowa State University, and Lila Vodkin, crops molecular biologist at the University of Illinois, entailed the identification and decoding of more than 100,000 soybean gene messages.

“The project funded by checkoff dollars permitted for the first time, an in-depth analysis of soybean genes and a better understanding of what makes a soybean a soybean,” Shoemaker says.  “The success of the project was quickly followed by a supporting grant from the National Science Foundation to Dr. Vodkin to follow up on the genomic advances.”

Some of the first checkoff-funded genomics projects turned out to be the most successful, Shoemaker says, yielding far more than originally planned.  The first genetic road map of soybean chromosomes was produced through joint collaborations between the Iowa Soybean Association, the USDA-ARS and Iowa State University.  The map of less than 100 markers has grown to a map with several thousand markers, thanks to Perry Cregan, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, and James Specht, University of Nebraska.  The composite map has assisted in accelerating breeding programs and in cloning important genes.

Perhaps the most significant project, Shoemaker says, is collaboration between commodity checkoff boards, USDA-ARS, the U.S. Department of Energy, Joint Genome Institute and Purdue University and Iowa State.  Shoemaker’s project is collaborating in the assembly of the entire hereditary sequence of soybean chromosomes.  He says the project represents nearly two decades of preparation, planning and support from soybean farmer dollars, and is supplemented by funding from the National Science Foundation to a team lead by Scott Jackson with Purdue University.

“The soybean genetic maps were used as the infrastructure upon which to assemble the DNA sequences into pseudo-chromosomes,” Shoemaker says.  “Decoded gene messages were essential to proper annotation of the DNA. The whole-genome sequence has already been instrumental in cloning several genes important to soybean health and vigor.  Results are currently in review in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature.”

At the University of Illinois, current work includes improving levels of disease resistance by identifying genetic relationships of resistance traits and developing molecular markers associated with new sources of disease and pest resistance traits.

Such mapping not only of the soybean genome but also the soybean cyst nematode (SCN) and sudden death syndrome (SDS) genomes will pay off someday, says Wright.  “The advantages are not visible to farmers yet, but they are coming,” he says.  “Ongoing research is uncovering DNA sequence data for SCN biotypes that will contribute to the development of additional sources of resistance as we understand the genetic codes.”

Specialty Soybean Variety Development

Improving soybean varieties for multiple end uses and enhanced profitability is the goal of research led by Walter Fehr, Iowa State University agronomist.

“The success of our soybean breeding program is the direct result of continuous checkoff funding since 1972,” Fehr says.  “With that reliable support, we have been able to engage in long-term research that has paid off in the development of novel traits that have been incorporated into varieties with the agronomic performance expected by farmers.  These varieties have been the catalyst for establishment of new uses and markets for soybeans.”

Fehr developed low-linolenic and mid-oleic varieties that produce oil with an extended shelf-life so no hydrogenation is needed and varieties with half the saturated fat of conventional beans that improve the oil’s health characteristics. Farmers obtain premiums for producing the varieties because of the value of the oil and non-GMO protein.

Fehr has directed research that led to other varieties, including those with a yellow hilum color preferred by some food manufacturers, and varieties with large seed and high protein that have multiple food uses, including edamame.  Fehr developed lipoxygenase-free varieties, which eliminate the undesirable grassy flavor in soy protein. He is working on varieties with low phytate that may have value in feed for non-ruminant animals like swine and poultry in cutting the need for inorganic phosphorus and the enzyme phytase.

Sudden Death Syndrome

Checkoff-funded research has helped strengthen farmer defense against SDS.  By identifying the SDS pathogen’s timeline for infection of soybean roots, researchers and others have been able to pick up varieties with improved resistance to SDS.

The Illinois Soybean Association has funded SDS research for more than 20 years.  The first SDS commercial variety trial began in 1985.  SDS research has been able to assist farmers with variety selection and help companies position varieties for SDS fields.

“The breeding programs at Southern Illinois University and the University of Illinois have received checkoff funding for more than 15 years to identify sources of SDS resistance and to develop SDS-resistant varieties and germplasm,” says Jason Bond, Southern Illinois University plant pathologist, who is investigating SDS on several fronts.

“We are currently assessing the risk of shifts in SDS populations toward more aggressive forms and want to understand the factors that may lead to such undesirable shifts.”

The NCSRP began funding SDS research in 2000, as the disease began to spread into more states in the Midwest.  Bond says the funding was critical to establishing a means for coordinating SDS research among the north central universities.  The NCSRP funding was also instrumental in developing new tools for studying the disease and for developing new, public varieties with resistance to the disease.

“NCSRP has enabled the release of Group II breeding lines with SDS resistance for work at Iowa State and also the University of Illinois,” Wright says.  “Soybean farmers should see those benefits as new varieties in six to seven years.”

Soybean Aphid Management

Soybean aphids have been a problem in the Midwest since found in Wisconsin in 2000.  Researchers from Iowa State University and the University of Illinois have focused on various aspects of aphid control, including helping establish an economic threshhold.

“Soybean farmers, through the checkoff in Iowa and Illinois, were the first to invest money with universities to find a solution,” Wright says.  “NCSRP provided funding for preliminary research to answer basic questions.  Entomologists from the Midwest were brought together to come up with a recommendation for management, and establish the economic threshold of 250 aphids per plant.  Researchers turned a $2 million farmer investment into $1.3 billion in estimated savings for farmers over a 15-year period.”

Checkoff investments have also been used to find a unique series of natural genes that provide resistance to aphids.  The resistance is going into varieties for 2010.

“The funding is critical with regard to our ongoing aphid research.  Farmer support enables us to critically evaluate different management strategies, such as the use of aphid resistant soybean varieties,” says Mike Gray, University of Illinois entomologist.  “The support is crucial in enabling us to conduct practical pest management research that can be directly utilized by soybean farmers throughout the Midwest.”

Researchers have operated a regional suction trap network to collect aphids and evaluate soybean aphid resistant breeding lines in replicated field plots.  Researchers have also conducted tests on rearing, releasing and monitoring establishment of the parasitoid wasp, which may help control aphids.  Several states plan to release wasps near buckthorn, the overwintering host, to try to enhance the parasitoid’s survival chances.

Asian Soybean Rust

Soybean rust was confirmed in 16 states in 2009, including Illinois.  Rust was last confirmed in Iowa in 2007.  The confirmations came as part of the Integrated Pest Management Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education (IPM/PIPE) system developed from requests made by soybean farmers in 2004, as well as the National Sentinel Plot System, with disease monitoring stations throughout the Midwest.

“Farmers had the vision to set up the detection system, which has led to $200-300 million in savings annually to soybean farmers,” Wright says.  “Early detection of soybean rust is needed to be able to properly manage it with foliar fungicides and prevent yield loss.”

Glen Hartman, University of Illinois plant pathologist, has implemented a state passive wind-vane trap network and spore-trapping network to confirm rust spores and potential infection in Illinois.  The tools are considered part of an early warning system.

“The potential for major losses from rust occurs every year.  Maintaining our research and focusing on monitoring efforts is an inexpensive way to be proactive for a disease that could potentially be devastating in the Midwest,” says Wright.

Soybean Cyst Nematode

While research has proven that the use of SCN-resistant varieties is the most powerful tactic for preserving soybean yield, researchers have found that some field nematode populations are adapting to the resistance available in many current varieties.

Checkoff-funded research in 2001 found that more than two-thirds of varieties marketed in Illinois had little or no SCN resistance.  By 2008, researchers found that most of the 578 SCN-resistant varieties tested were combating field nematode populations, giving soybean farmers the resources they need for particular SCN conditions in their fields.

More than 90 percent of SCN-resistant varieties available today use the same source of resistance.  And now some field populations of SCN have adapted to resistant varieties.  Researchers are working to genetically map SCN resistance genes, determine the effects of SCN-resistant genes in field environments, develop resistant lines that can manage virulent SCN populations, develop rapid molecular methods to verify resistance, and test SCN field populations to determine whether they can “break” resistance.

*Content Funded by the Soybean Checkoff