Agronomic and morphological characterization of superior soybean genotypes for the registration and protection of cultivars for the São Paulo State.

• Grant number: 22/12701-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): December 01, 2022
• Effective date (End): November 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal Investigator: Sandra Helena Unêda-Trevisoli
• Grantee: Gabriela Silva Cordeiro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Soybean crop is the main oilseed cultivated in the world, for which Brazil appears in recent agricultural years as the world's largest producer of the grain. The State of São Paulo had a growing increase in the areas cultivated with this oilseed, especially in recent agricultural years, due to the high prices and appreciation of the product in the international market. Despite this growing increase in cultivated agricultural areas, for about three decades, there has not been the launch of a commercial cultivar developed and recommended specifically for the State of São Paulo, as well as for sugarcane rotation areas, which predominate in commercial soybean crops in São Paulo. In order for a soybean cultivar to be produced and marketed as a commercial variety, it must initially undergo a long period of development within genetic improvement programs. After this long process, the best genotypes need proceed tests in several locations and some agricultural years, for their characterization in terms of agronomic performance, whose tests are called Cultivation and Use Value Assays (VCU). Within the VCU trials, some genotypes are selected for release as a commercial variety, which takes place through a process with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA). In this process, only the lines selected for release will then be registered in the National Register of Cultivars (RNC) for their "Registration" as a commercial cultivar. However, to guarantee the breeder the rights for the cultivar, it must also be "Protected" in the National Service for the Protection of Cultivars (SNPC). The present work aims to carry out the agronomic and morphological characterization of soybean genotypes as part of the process aimed at the future Registration and Protection of Cultivars for the State of São Paulo. Therefore, tests called VCU (Value of Cultivation and Use) will be conducted to evaluate agronomic traits, in addition to DHE tests (Distinguishability, Homogeneity and Stability), to evaluate morphological descriptors. Such tests will be conducted in three locations in the State of São Paulo, belonging to the map of Soybean Edaphoclimatic Regions (REC), in the agricultural year 2022/2023. The assays will be carried out in a randomized block design, with three replications, for the selection of superior genotypes, by means of comparisons with commercial standard cultivars (checks). Only within one of the VCU Assays, the DHE evaluations will be carried out, because the morphological descriptors do not undergo significant genotype x environment interactions, as happens with the agronomic traits evaluated within the VCU Assays. All evaluations will take place in accordance with the requests for the Registration and Protection of cultivars process required by MAPA, and will comprise part of the data necessary for the total process. After this stage, we intend to continue the process, which will allow the launch of soybean cultivars for the sugarcane x soybean rotation system for the State of São Paulo, as well as, in the future, for other soybean producing regions in the country.