Registration of R19-42848 as a drought-tolerant, high-yielding soybean germplasm line

R19-42848 (Reg. no. GP-532, PI 706865) is a high-yielding soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] germplasm with drought tolerance released by the University of Arkansas System – Division of Agriculture Research & Extension Center in 2024. It is an F₄-derived selection from the cross R12-2237 (drought-tolerant) × R12-519 (high-yielding). R19-42848 is a conventional (non-genetically modified) soybean with a relative maturity of 5.2. Plants have determinate growth habit with purple flower color, gray pubescence, and tan pod wall at maturity. Seed of R19-42848 has buff hilum color, 100-seed weight of 13.8 g, and contains on average 404.5 and 211.5 g kg⁻¹ of protein and oil on a dry basis, respectively. R19-42848 showed high-yielding and broad adaptability across 28 environments in Arkansas and three other states during the 4 years of yield trials under irrigated conditions (4275 kg ha⁻¹, 91.4% of the checks’ mean). Additionally, it demonstrated high yield and slow canopy wilting in rainfed conditions across 14 environments over 3 years (2489 kg ha⁻¹, 96.2% of the checks’ mean). Under irrigated conditions, R19-42848 yielded numerically higher than drought-tolerant check Ellis (105.2%), while statistically similar in rainfed conditions (99.9%). Therefore, R19-42848 is a valuable genetic resource for public and private soybean breeding programs attempting to incorporate drought-tolerant alleles into their breeding pipeline.