To develop high-yielding group IV and V soybeans profitable for Missouri farmers and for licensing to other entities for sale in other states. Project objective is to develop group IV and V conventional and herbicide tolerant (RR1, R2Y, R2X, LL, and E3), pest resistant, and stress tolerant soybeans with equal or better yield than popular commercial varieties of similar maturity.

Our breeding program focuses on variety development and will provide a steady flow of new and improved conventional and herbicide-tolerant (RR1, R2Y, R2X, LL, and E3) varieties adapted to Southeast Missouri and the Mid-South region. We will collaborate with several other public institutions on germplasm enhancement to enlarge our gene pool and fuel our continuous breeding effort. Varieties and germplasm developed and released from the Delta Center will be shared with other public and private breeding programs via MTA and licensing agreement.

Develop group IV and V conventional and herbicide tolerant (RR1, R2Y, R2X, LL, and E3), pest resistant, and stress tolerant soybeans with equal or better yield than popular commercial varieties of similar maturity.

* Develop and release high-yielding lines with popular herbicide traits (R2Y, R2X, E3, and LL)

* Provide Missouri farmers and seed entities with productive, pest resistant, non-GMO commercial varieties for export and sale in markets where non-GMO soybeans are in demand

* Provide Missouri farmers a choice of conventional and RR1 varieties which will give them more flexibility without intellectual property issues and opportunity to save seed costs

* Provide Missouri farmers royalties or a return on their investment in research from sale of these varieties

* Breeding high yielding, broad adaptation, disease resistant, stress tolerant, conventional and herbicide tolerant soybeans will offer growers an array of options to fit their farming operations. Productive, group IV and V herbicide tolerant and conventional soybeans with resistance to major diseases will improve profits for southern Missouri farmers. Seed sales of varieties developed from this project is also generating royalty income for MSMC and MU.

* No matter the herbicide tolerance, soybean varieties with high yield and good resistance or tolerance to major pests/stresses and with lower seed costs are essential to soybean profitability in southeast Missouri. Soybean cyst nematode (SCN), root knot nematode, reniform nematode, frogeye leaf spot, sudden death syndrome (SDS), stem canker,
phytophthora root rot and charcoal rot are important diseases in Missouri while flooding and salt are often a challenge for farmers in Delta region. Disease resistant and stress tolerant varieties are the most economical means to reduce yield losses to diseases and other stresses such as flooding and salt. Every bush saved would directly translate to farmer profits.