Manhattan, Kansas, USA
September 15, 2014

For two days in September, Kansas State University’s Department of Agronomy and K-State Research and Extension hosted some of the top soybean researchers and agronomists from the southern U.S.

The scientists learned about the challenges and opportunities of soybean production in Kansas and the attendees on the Southern Soybean Breeders’ Tour also provided the K-State faculty with insights into what private and public soybean breeders in other areas are doing, said Bill Schapaugh, K-State soybean breeder and one of the tour organizers.

“This was a special event for Kansas,” Schapaugh said. “This annual tour has been going on for decades, but it has always been hosted by soybean breeders in one of the southern U.S. states. It had never been held in Kansas. This year, it was our privilege to team up with breeders and agronomists from DuPont Pioneer and Monsanto to develop a program for the tour in Kansas.”

Attendees comprised a diverse group – from breeders to production agronomists, entomologists, and educators; from graduate students in their first year of study to breeders with more than 40 years of experience. Most of the participants came from the southern U.S., but several researchers from Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri also joined the tour.

“We wanted to give everyone a good perspective on what’s happening in Kansas with soybeans, both research activities in plant breeding and genetics and on-farm production. To do this, we arranged for several stops at diverse locations. It was a very intense but enjoyable and informative two days,” Schapaugh said.

The group began the tour with a trip to the DuPont Pioneer Soybean Breeding Station near Lawrence, led by Les Kuhlman, DuPont Pioneer soybean breeder.

“At our first stop, we focused on soybean genetic diversity. That’s a big issue in soybean breeding. Genetic diversity is what drives the improvement in soybean varieties. We have to develop varieties that are better than what we have now, and genetic diversity is required to accomplish that goal,” Schapaugh said.

The group toured a plot where Pioneer breeders are evaluating lines for soybean sudden death syndrome resistance. In the Kansas River Valley and irrigated locations in Kansas, there’s quite a bit of SDS this year, Schapaugh said.

“We had multiple presentations on the tour focusing on SDS. This stop at Pioneer’s facility focused on the genetic side of the issue,” the K-State soybean breeder said. “They had literally thousands of different genotypes in the field. We could see severe SDS symptoms in the field, but not every genotype was affected. Some had no symptoms.

There have always been differences in genetic resistance among soybean varieties, but there is not yet a high enough level of resistance to help protect completely from this disease. Pioneer and other companies are working on this, Schapaugh said.

The group then visited the Monsanto-Edmonds soybean variety plots near Lawrence.

“Robin and Jane Edmonds cooperate with Monsanto in establishing test plots across the region on producers’ fields. This gives the company a good perspective on how current varieties perform in different environments in northeast Kansas. It was interesting to get the Edmonds’ perspective on the needs and challenges of farming in Kansas,” Schapaugh said.

The next stop was at the Kansas River Valley Experiment Field near Rossville where SDS and soybean cyst nematodes were discussed. Chris Little, K-State plant pathologist, discussed his research on environmental factors involved in SDS development. Little is studying the interaction between soil moisture, soil temperature, soil oxygen content, soybean stage of development, and SDS severity.

Another K-State plant pathologist, Tim Todd, spoke about his work on SCN diversity and the implications for soybean management. SDS and SCN are two separate problems, but almost always occur together, Schapaugh said.

Eric Adee, agronomist-in-charge at the River Valley field talked about his research into seed treatment control of SDS and Fusarium, the organism that causes the disease. Adee has found beneficial results in reducing losses to SDS from a new experimental seed treatment from Bayer CropScience.

The group also visited Monsanto’s test plots at the River Valley field. Monsanto’s Roger Olson, Molly Drimmel, and Craig Moots discussed the new Roundup Ready Extend lines being tested in Kansas.

The second day, the group visited K-State’s research plots near Assaria in Saline County. These plots, on the fields of producer-cooperator Clayton Short, are part of an abiotic stress project funded by the United Soybean Board. Vara Prasad, K-State crop physiologist, and Schapaugh are two of the more than 20 researchers across the country working on this USB project.

“At this site in Saline County, there’s always the potential for drought and heat stress every year, so that’s the focus of our research here,” Schapaugh said.

Tommy Carter, USDA-ARS at North Carolina State University and overall coordinator of the USB project, and Neal Hageman, with USB, discussed the research being done here and around the country on abiotic stress in soybeans. Genetic and genomic strategies to improve soybean response to abiotic stresses were discussed by Grover Shannon and Raymond Mutava, University of Missouri.

Schapaugh spoke about his team’s work in spectral reflectance and canopy temperature to more quickly and cheaply identify desirable genotypes in the breeding process in both stressed and non-stressed environments.

“Remote sensing and high-throughput phenotyping are areas of expertise being developed at K-State. This new technology is being tested not only in our soybean breeding program, but also in the wheat and sorghum breeding programs at K-State,” Schapaugh said.

The group had lunch at Rannell’s Ranch, the Department of Agronomy’s tallgrass prairie research site near Manhattan. Clenton Owensby, K-State range management scientist, talked about the importance of the prairie ecosystem.

At the Agronomy North Farm in Manhattan, K-State agronomists talked about cropping systems research and management of soybeans. Kraig Roozeboom, crop production agronomist, and graduate student Bryson Haverkamp explained their research in high-yield soybean management systems. Jeff Whitworth, K-State Research and Extension entomologist, discussed the dectes soybean borer and other soybean insect problems in Kansas. Prasad and graduate students Nan An and Kyle Shroyer presented their research into drought and heat stress, utilizing rainout shelters, heat tents, and remote sensing technology at the North Farm.

The tour ended with two stops that delved deeper into the genetic side of breeding. K-State plant pathologists Xu "Kevin" Wang, post-doctoral researcher; Josh Sharon, research assistant; and Daljit Singh and Jared Crain, graduate students, demonstrated the use of the high-throughput phenotypers they are developing. Harold Trick, professor, talked about K-State research in soybean improvement through genetic transformation.

“Probably the most beneficial aspect of this event was the amount of time we had to interact and discuss soybean issues among ourselves.” Schapaugh said. “I found out a lot about what’s going on in the industry. And those in private industry and other universities found out what we are doing at K-State. We talked about ways to improve what we’re doing,” he added.

The sponsors were important to the success of this tour, Schapaugh said. Sponsors included Bayer CropScience, Monsanto, DuPont Pioneer, the United Soybean Board, the Kansas Soybean Commission, K-State Research and Extension, and K-State’s Department of Agronomy.