INDUCTION OF GENETIC VARIATION FOR OIL PROPERTIES AND AGRONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF SOYBEANS
Abstract
The effects of ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) on inducing significant useful genetic variation for fatty acid composition of oil from mature seeds and for agronomic characteristics of soybeans {Glycine max (L.) Merr.} were determined. Seeds of the cultivar 'Century' were treated with 2500 ppm of EMS. M(,1) plants were harvested with 20 seeds retained and sown the following year in an M(,2) plant row. At maturity three M(,2) plants (lines) were randomly selected from each of 100 M(,1) families, threshed, and 40 seeds retained. The lines were evaluated in hill plots, 5 plants per hill, during 1981 and 1982 for agronomic characteristics and harvested seeds were evaluated for fatty acid composition of the oil. EMS induced significant genetic variation for fatty acid composition and for agronomic characteristics. The distributions of fatty acids were skewed toward high levels of oleic acid and low levels of linoleic and linolenic acid. Agronomic characteristics were skewed toward low yielding, late maturing, and lodging susceptible lines. The mean of each characteristic for the EMS treated lines did not differ significantly from the untreated population. Broad-sense heritability estimates for agronomic characteristics of the EMS treated lines were similar to estimates recorded in the literature based on populations derived from hybridization. Genetic correlations indicated that very few significant interrelationships existed between agronomic characteristics and fatty acid composition of the oil.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Agronomy
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