Registration of high-yielding, high-protein soybean germplasm USDA-N7007 derived from wild soybean PI 366122

Abstract

USDA-N7007 is a non-GM, maturity group (MG) VII soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] (Reg. no. GP-529, PI 705147) germplasm released by the USDA Agricultural Research Service in conjunction with the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service in December of 2023. USDA-N7007 is a high-yielding, high-protein germplasm derived from wild soybean (Glycine soja Siebold & Zucc; PI 366122) and small-seeded MG VII USDA cultivar N7103. Over 47 combined testing environments of the USDA Southern Uniform and USB Protein Diversity Tests (2018–2021), USDA-N7007 yielded 98% of the check mean and 102% of the test mean. The average protein content of USDA-N7007 was significantly higher (432 g kg⁻¹) than the average check means of 402 g kg⁻¹ and 413 g kg⁻¹ in the USDA Southern Uniform and USB Protein Diversity Tests, respectively. Across both tests (2019–2021), the release was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in protein (+7 g kg⁻¹), with 9% higher seed yield (+242 kg ha⁻¹) than the recurrent parent N7103. USDA-N7007 is resistant to lodging, southern root-knot nematode, and stem canker. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first US release clearly demonstrating that the wild soybean genome can be incorporated into an elite cultivar to increase seed protein without a negative effect on seed yield. This release is a truly novel and valuable resource for development of future US soybean cultivars because it will be useful to improve both genetic diversity and seed protein simultaneously without a negative effect on seed yield.