Project Number: 6645-21220-008-29
Project Type: Reimbursable

Start Date: Sep 01, 2006
End Date: Aug 31, 2010

Objective:
To determine the plant physiological mechanisms that are responsible for the slow-wilting phenotype that is segregating in three recombinant inbred populations and to establish a congruence between the slow-wilting phenotype and the physiological phenotype.

Approach:
The first step will be to focus on the extreme soybean breeding lines based on past phenotyping for expression of slow-wilting. The critical issue is to determine if there is congruence between the slow-wilting morphological phenotype and the underlying physiological mechanism in three QTL populations. The establishment of a congruence between the slow-wilting phenotype and the physiological phenotype would be a major accomplishment providing options for screening for drought tolerance in breeding populations. Phenotyping at the physiological level would also allow the marker information to be revisited for associations with this trait. Two of the QTL populations have been mapped with DNA markers. The third QTL population is in process. These three populations will be grown at the Sandhills Research Station in North Carolina for observation under drought conditions. Data will be collected and analyzed in each year.