Off-Season Nurseries Enhance Soybean Breeding and Genetics Programs

Breeding and genetics programs use off-season nurseries for hybridization, generation advance, and seed increase during the winter when the crop cannot be planted in its area of adaptation. Off-season nurseries play an important role in breeding and genetics programs. Off-season nurseries may be established in the tropics or in a temperate location. A survey of public and private soybean breeders that the author conducted in 1984 has shown that 80% of them are using off-season nurseries at some stage of their programs. Hybridization of cultivars unadapted to tropical conditions may be impossible without the use of artificial lighting to extend daylength. Under natural daylength, flowers are few and not suitable for hybridization, because self-pollination occurs before they are large enough to manipulate. An off-season nursery fulfills an unavoidable requirement in any breeding program for hybridization and generation advance. The use of chemical treatments may be practical when seeds are harvested in bulk.