INTEGRATING GERMPLASM EVALUATION, BREEDING AND PHYSIOLOGY TO IMPROVE POST-FLOWERING HEAT-STRESS RESILIENCE IN SOYBEAN

Long-term Goals:Develop improved post-flowering heat-stress resilient cultivars and strengthen the improvement pipeline between the untapped soybean germplasm collection and commercial soybean cultivars.Supporting objectives:Phenotype a diverse soybean association panel for post-flowering heat-stress induced yield and composition changes using unique field-based tents.Map genomic regions responsible for maintaining yield and seed composition under post-flowering heat-stress through genome-wide association studies (GWAS).Validate haplotypes associated with post-flowering heat stress tolerance and develop breeder friendly molecular markers.