Quantitative Trait Locus Mapping for Drought Tolerance in Soybean Recombinant Inbred Line Population

Improving drought stress tolerance of soybean could be an effective way to minimize the yield reduction in the drought prevailing regions. Identification of drought tolerance-related quantitative trait loci (QTLs) is useful to facilitate the development of stress-tolerant varieties. This study aimed to identify the QTLs for drought tolerance in soybean using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population developed from the cross between a drought-tolerant 'PI416937' and a susceptible 'Cheonsang' cultivar. Phenotyping was done with a weighted drought coefficient derived from the vegetative and reproductive traits. The genetic map was constructed using 2648 polymorphic SNP markers that distributed on 20 chromosomes with a mean genetic distance of 1.36 cM between markers. A total of 10 QTLs with 3.52-4.7 logarithm of odds value accounting for up to 12.9% phenotypic variance were identified on seven chromosomes. Five chromosomes-2, 7, 10, 14, and 20-contained one QTL each, and chromosomes 1 and 19 harbored two and three QTLs, respectively. The chromosomal locations of seven QTLs overlapped or located close to the related QTLs and/or potential candidate genes reported earlier. The QTLs and closely linked markers could be utilized in maker-assisted selection to accelerate the breeding for drought tolerance in soybean.

Automated summary

This study identified 10 QTLs for drought tolerance in soybean using a recombinant inbred line population developed from a cross between a drought-tolerant and a susceptible cultivar. The QTLs were found on seven chromosomes, with some overlapping or located close to previously reported related QTLs and/or potential candidate genes. These QTLs and closely linked markers could be used in marker-assisted selection to accelerate breeding for drought tolerance in soybean.