Association of elevated palmitate content with agronomic and seed traits of soybean

Soybean [Glycine mar (L.) Merr.] genotypes with elevated palmitate content in the seed oil have been developed for food and industrial applications. The objective of the study was to determine the association of elevated palmitate with agronomic and seed traits of soybean. Two high-yielding cultivars with normal palmitate content of approximate to 110 g kg(-1) were crossed to lines with the genotype fap2-b fap2-b fap4 fap4 that had an elevated palmitate content of approximate to 250 g kg(-1). From each of the two segregating populations, 27 F-3-derived lines with elevated palmitate content and 27 with normal palmitate content were selected for replicated testing at tao locations in Iowa in 1993 and 1994. The elevated-palmitate lines had significantly reduced yield; later maturity; reduced lodging; elevated height; reduced seed weight, protein, oil, stearate, oleate, and linoleate; and elevated palmitate and linoleate than the normal-palmitate lines. The magnitude of the negative association between elevated palmitate and seed yield nas different between the crosses, which indicated that multiple high-yielding parents with normal palmitate should be considered for developing cultivars with the fap2-b fap2-b fap4 fap4 genotype. The distributions for oil content of the elevated- and normal-palmitate lines did not overlap; therefore, the oil content of cultivars with elevated palmitate is likely to be less than that of normal cultivars, The magnitude of the differences between the elevated- and normal-palmitate lines for the other characteristics was not sufficient to preclude the development of acceptable cultivars with the fap2-b fap2-b fap4 fap4 genotype.