Katerina Stefanova1, Mariana Radkova1, Galina Naydenova2 and Anelia Iantcheva1
1 Agricultural Academy, Agrobioinstitute, 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria
2 Agricultural Academy, Research Institute of Mountain Stockbreeding and Agriculture, 5600 Troyan, Bulgaria
Stefanova, K., Radkova, M., Naydenova, G. & Iantcheva, A. (2024). Comparison of yield components and detection of seed size associate locus SW9-1 in elite soybean breeding lines. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 30(6), 1050–1058
Soybean is one of the main sources of protein for humans and livestock. Soybean seeds are also very rich of oils. Seed size is important parameter in all agricultural crops, and as the main component of yield is the subject of research in breeding programs. In Bulgaria, soybean crop is grown without irrigation, which requires the cultivation of early varieties to allow the flowering and the filling of the seeds to take place before the extreme high temperatures and scarce rainfall during the hottest summer months July and August. For this reason the selection is conducted in both directions – large-seeds and early maturity. Modern selection methods such as marker-assisted selection shorten the time for developing of breeding materials.
In the present study, genotypic diversity related with the seed productivity and the factors determining it, were investigated in F5-F6 soybean breeding lines. The lines were realized after four different crosses including very early cultivar – Romantica; cultivar with high protein content – Saikai and cultivars Srebrina and Galina forming big seeds. The possibilities of the SW9-1 locus carrying SNP related to seed size in soybean to serve as a marker in a selection process was also investigated.