Acta Agriculturae Zhejiangensis ›› 2025, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (5): 965-976.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-1524.20240119

• Crop Science • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Screening and identification of soybean germplasm for low nitrogen tolerance during seedling stage

HE Guoxin1,2(), LI Sujuan2(), WANG Jian3, TAO Xiaoyuan4, YE Zihong1, CHEN Guang3,*(), XU Shengchun1,2,4,*()   

  1. 1. School of Life Sciences, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, China
    2. Public Laboratory, State Key Laboratory for Quality and Safety of Agro-Products, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China
    3. Institute of Digital Agriculture, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China
    4. Xianghu Laboratory, Hangzhou 311258, China
  • Received:2024-02-01 Online:2025-05-25 Published:2025-06-11

Abstract:

To enhance the nitrogen use efficiency of soybean varieties tolerant to low nitrogen, it is crucial to screen and accurately identify the characters of germplasm resources. In this study, 557 soybean germplasms were used as experimental materials. Hydroponic experiments were conducted under normal nitrogen conditions (7.5 mmol·L-1) and low nitrogen conditions (0.75 mmol·L-1). Fourteen physiological indicators related to low nitrogen tolerance, including biomass, root length, and relative chlorophyll content, were measured. The low nitrogen characteristics of germplasm resources were evaluated using analysis of variance, correlation analysis, fuzzy membership function method, principal component comprehensive evaluation method, and clustering analysis. Under low nitrogen stress, except for no significant differences in the actual photosynthetic efficiency of the second trifoliate and the quantum yield of regulated energy dissipation in the first trifoliate, the other 12 indicators showed significant differences. Principal component analysis was used to transform the nitrogen tolerance coefficients of the 12 significantly changed traits into five comprehensive indicators, with a cumulative contribution rate of 80.87%. Based on the principal component comprehensive evaluation value (D), the 557 soybean germplasm resources were clustered into five types: low nitrogen-tolerant type, relatively low nitrogen-tolerant type, moderately low nitrogen-tolerant type, low nitrogen-sensitive type, and low nitrogen-sensitive type. Low nitrogen-tolerant types, including varieties such as Shidou 2, YJ002313, and AMURSKAYA 402, were identified, as well as low nitrogen-sensitive types, including varieties such as Kec14-705, Zhongye 1, 97 Jian 23, Piheidou, and Yongchengdazilvdou. Based on stepwise linear regression analysis, underground length, underground dry weight, root-to-shoot ratio (RL/SL), quantum yield of regulated energy dissipation in the second trifoliate, and relative chlorophyll content in the first trifoliate were identified as key important features for evaluating soybean low nitrogen tolerance characteristics. This study identified excellent soybean germplasm with low nitrogen tolerance, providing the material foundation for the breeding of soybean varieties with low nitrogen tolerance.

Key words: soybean, low nitrogen stress, germplasm resource screening, physiological traits, principal component comprehensive evaluation method

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