Important breakthrough achieved in high-efficiency hybrid soybean breeding and seed production technology
A research group led by researcher Wei Baoguo of the Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, after more than 30 years of unremitting efforts, has achieved an important breakthrough in high-efficiency hybrid soybean breeding and seed production technology, opening up broad prospects for the utilization of heterosis in soybeans in China and even the world.
The research group led by researcher Wei Baoguo of the Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences began research on soybean hybridization in the early 1980s. In 1985, Wei Baoguo first discovered photoperiod-sensitive male sterile material in soybeans. Thereafter, he led the research group to attempt to expand the selection and breeding of the “three-line” system of hybrid soybeans, and creatively carried out “two-line” selection and breeding. After nearly 30 years of dedicated research and development, a substantive breakthrough has now been achieved in this field——greatly increasing the yield of parental breeding and F1 hybrid seed production.
In late September this year, Academician Gai Junyi of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Han Tianfu, chief scientist of the National Soybean Industrial Technology System, led an expert group to conduct a field inspection of the “Creation and Application of Soybean Hybrids” project undertaken by Wei Baoguo, focusing on on-site evaluation of key indicators such as the outcrossing rate and yield of hybrid soybean breeding and seed production. The evaluation results showed that the outcrossing rate of the male sterile line was 73.18%, with a maximum of 86.5%; the hybrid seed production yield was 60.27 kg per mu, with a maximum of 87.47 kg, both reaching internationally leading levels.
Academician Gai Junyi said: “For the industrialization of soybean hybrid breeding, we are a small step ahead, but this small step has allowed us to see the prospects for breaking through in soybean hybrid breeding.”
According to Wei Baoguo, this technology has also achieved the technical matching of the three lines of soybean hybrids—the male sterile line, the maintainer line and the restorer line—and has already been applied to the configuration and production of hybrids. The average yield per mu of the two selected strong-heterosis soybean combinations in production test demonstrations was 250 kg, with a very notable yield-increasing effect.
Experts in the industry said that this breakthrough in high-efficiency hybrid soybean breeding and seed production technology has enabled soybeans to reach or approach industrialization indicators in hybrid selection and breeding, propagation and seed production technology, and will provide strong scientific and technological support for the industrialization of hybrid soybeans in China and for ensuring national soybean production security.