title: Effects on flowering and seed yield of dominant alleles at maturity loci E2 and E3 in a Japanese cultivar, Enrei.
abstract: 'Enrei' is the second leading variety of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) in Japan. Its cultivation area is mainly restricted to the Hokuriku region. In order to expand the adaptability of 'Enrei', we developed two near-isogenic lines (NILs) of 'Enrei' for the dominant alleles controlling late flowering at the maturity loci, E2 and E3, by backcrossing with marker-assisted selection. The resultant NILs and the original variety were evaluated for flowering, maturity, seed productivity and other agronomic traits in five different locations. Expectedly, NILs with E2 or E3 alleles flowered later than the original variety in most locations. These NILs produced comparatively larger plants in all locations. Seed yields were improved by E2 and E3 in the southern location or in late-sowing conditions, whereas the NIL for E2 exhibited almost the same or lower productivity in the northern locations due to higher degrees of lodging. Seed quality-related traits, such as 100-seed weight and protein content, were not significantly different between the original variety and its NILs. These results suggest that the modification of genotypes at maturity loci provides new varieties that are adaptive to environments of different latitudes while retaining almost the same seed quality as that of the original.
authors.affiliation: National Agriculture and Food Research Organization Institute of Crop Science (NICS) , 2-1-18 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8518, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Makita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hajika
authors.forename: Naohiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Kaori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.forename: Akinori
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Okabe
authors.forename: Nobuhiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Oki
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Kousuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Seki
authors.forename: Katsunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okano
authors.forename: Yoichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Akito
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaga
authors.forename: Takehiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sayama
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishimoto
keywords: Glycine max (L.) Merr.; backcrossing; marker-assisted selection; maturity gene; near-isogenic lines; seed productivity; soybean