Phenotypic Characterization of Soybean Genetic Resources at Multiple Locations: Breeding Implications for Enhancing Environmental Resilience, Yield and Protein Content

Tomas Vymyslicky ^1* Oldřich Trněný ¹ Hendrik Rietman ² Isabel Roldan-Ruiz ³ Christiane Balko ⁴ Aamir Saleem ⁵ Vuk Đorđević ⁶ Predrag Ranđelović ⁶ Julia Buitink ⁷ Marie PEGARD ⁷ Magdaléna Dybová ¹ Jonas Aper ³

• ¹ Agricultural Research, Ltd., Troubsko, Czechia
• ² Agro Seed Research bv, Nijverheidslaan 1506, 3660, Opglabbeek, Belgium, Opglabbeek, Belgium
• ³ Plant Sciences Unit, Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Caritasstraat 39, 9090, Melle, Belgium, Melle, Belgium
• ⁴ Julius Kühn-Institut, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Breeding Research on Cultivated Plants, Groß Lüsewitz, D-18190 Sanitz, Germany, Sanitz, Germany
• ⁵ Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium
• ⁶ Institute of Field And Vegetable Crops Novi Sad (IFVCNS), Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia
• ⁷ INRAE P3F, Lusignan, France, Lusignan, France

The objective of our research was to study soybean genetic resources in context of future protein selfsufficiency both in human and animal nutrition. Collection of 360 different accessions from various regions worldwide was evaluated across four European locations during two consecutive years in phenotyping trials. The five most important traits of soybeanplant emergence, plant length, protein content, seed yield, and R8 stagewere carefully analysed, revealing significant variability. Ten exceptionally stable genotypes were identified based on their protein content and yield, presenting promising candidates for breeding programs. Our findings underscore the importance of integrating genotype-environment interaction analyses into breeding initiatives, considering the observed variability in phenotypic traits across diverse environments and genotypes.