As I write this message, hopefully you have survived the holiday season and

each of you is slowly getting back into your normal routine. Maybe some of

you have even made a few New Year’s resolutions. The Soybean Commission

has had its first meeting of the New Year to decide which research projects

will be funded this year. The other members and I would also like to welcome

two new members to the commission: Tony Smith and Ray Cobb. I look for-

ward to working with these men to make the Soybean Commission even more

effective.

The Soybean Expo will be held at the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry,

Georgia, February 5, 2015. Farmers can attend this expo and learn more

about new technology and soybean varieties. They may even learn some help-

ful information by sharing experiences with other farmers from the surround-

ing areas. The United Soybean Board will also be meeting in Savannah, Geor-

gia the week of February 9-13, 2015.

As you can see, the Soybean Commission is

actively working to make sure your check-off

dollars are being used wisely. If you have any

suggestions or concerns, feel free to contact

any member of the Soybean Commission.

Welcome New Commission Members!

In the fall of 2014, the Georgia Agricultural Commodity Commissions Ex-Officio committee

met to make new appointments to the state’s 12 commissions. First, we would like to ex-

press our appreciation to longtime Soybean Commission members Irwin Bagwell of Cave

Springs and Glenn Waller of Harrison. We greatly appreciate their service and wish them

all the best. The Ex-Officio committee appointed two new members to the Soybean Commis-

sion, Ray Cobb of Davisboro and Tony Smith of Arlington, as well as reappointed Greg

Mims of Donalsonville, Joe Moore of Resaca and Brian Ogletree of Milner. The Soybean

Commission looks forward to serving you - Georgia’s soybean producers - in 2015 and be-

yond! We welcome any suggestions or ideas you may have as to how the Commission might

serve you better in the future. Wishing you a happy and productive 2015 growing season!

GEORGIA SOYBEAN

COMMODITY COMMISSION

Winter 2015 Volume 2, Issue 1

Georgia

Soybean News

Farmers Putting

Soybean Checkoff

Dollars to Work for

You

Comm. Approves

Research Funding

2

Sentinel Plot Moni-

toring Program

2

Development of

RR2Y/LibertyLink

Soybean Varieties

3

Soybean Stem

Canker Fungus

4

Georgia Weather

Network

4

Genes for Resis-

tance to Kudzu Bug

5

Ogletree Inter-

viewed by China

Central TV

6

Chairman’s Message - Greg Mims

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

The Georgia Agricultural Commodity Commission for Soybeans recently approved $172,546 in

funding for a wide range of research projects as well as select promotional activities. At their Janu-

ary 14th meeting, the Soybean Commission reviewed and approved funding for eleven projects.

While we cannot include all eleven projects here, this issue of the Georgia Soybean News does high-

lights several of these projects over the next few pages. And we’ll cover others in future issues!

Like producers of other commodities, such as cotton, peanuts and dairy, Georgia’s soybean farm-

ers collectively invest a portion of their revenue to fund research and promotional efforts. This

collective investment is called a check-off. The soybean check-off is a nationwide effort supported

entirely by soybean farmers with individual contributions of 0.5 percent of the market price per

bushel sold each season.

Success for soybean farmers in today’s market takes more than just a good harvest. Increasing de-

mand for soybeans is an essential part of the equation. The soybean check-off helps facilitate mar-

ket growth and creation by funding research at land-grant universities as well as promotional ef-

forts. In Georgia, more than 75% of the check-off funds collected go to fund research – which is

crucial in the development of new varieties, improvements in production efficiency, and advance-

ments in insect and disease management.

Soybean Commission Approves 2015 Funding for Research & Promotion

Page 2 Georgia Soybean News

Project Title: Georgia Soybean Rust Sentinel Plot Monitoring Program to Include Reporting for Additional Foliar Diseases

Investigator: Robert C. Kemerait, Jr., Dept of Crop and Soil Sciences

Project Objectives:

To establish and monitor on a weekly basis 25 sentinel plots across the soybean production area

of Georgia in order to provide early detection of Asian soybean rust and other diseases to grow-

ers.

Brief Description of Project:

Sentinel plots for early detection of soybean rust and other diseases, e.g., frogeye leaf spot, an-

thracnose and Cercospora blight, will be established at multiple locations across the production

region of Georgia. Sentinel plots will include natural stands of kudzu and planted plots of soybeans

(MG V, VI, and VII at each appropriate location). Plots will be monitored on a weekly basis where

leaves are collected and brought to the Diagnostic Lab in Tifton.

Once in the Diagnostic Lab, the leaves will be assessed for occurrence of soybean rust and other diseases. The information will be immediately uploaded to the national reporting site

(www.sbrusa.net) and also disseminated to UGA Extension agents and growers. Sentinel plots will

be monitored between April and November of 2015.

Page 3 Volume 2, Issue 1

Investigator: Zenglu Li, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences

Project Objectives: Develop high-yielding RR2Y/LibertyLink soybean varieties adapted to Geor-

gia with higher protein content, higher oleic content, and pest and pathogen resistance.

Brief Description of Project: The United States is the leading soybean producer and exporter in the world. Soybean is a tradi-tional crop in Georgia. Weeds are a major production problem in the Southeastern USA and de-

velopment of herbicide tolerance and high yielding cultivars will help farms control the weeds in

soybean production. Since 2008, we have accessed to Monsanto Roundup Ready 2 Yield® that has

been reported to provide increased yield of soybean.

Recently, University of Georgia has obtained access to Bayer CropScience’s LibertyLink technology

that provides soybean tolerance to glufosinate herbicide as an alternative weed control platform.

This will provide Georgia soybean growers with the opportunity to select the efficient and cost

effective herbicide technology against glyphosate-tolerant weeds. With GACC grant support, we

have developed strong pipeline materials of soybean using this RR2Y technology and three RR2Y

cultivars were approved for release in 2014. We also have developed strong pipeline materials of

soybean using the LibertyLink technology. The two years yield trials with LibertyLink tolerance ma-terials have indicated strong performance of these lines. With regulatory approval, we expect to

release LibertyLink varieties in 2016.

The research will be primarily conducted at Plant Science Farms of the University of Georgia. We

emphasize the breeding goals for high yield, herbicide tolerance, disease and insect resistance along

with other important traits, such as high protein and high oleic content. Our general breeding

strategy will be crossing top performed RR2Y or LibertyLink lines with elite cultivars, adapted

breeding lines, and improved germplasm lines to combine the following characteristics: high yield,

high protein content, high oleic content, resistance to soybean cyst nematode, root-knot nema-

tode and soybean rust and resistance to defoliating insects, reniform nematode, frogeye leaf spot,

and stem canker.

Depending on the traits, we will use both forward and backcrossing breeding methodologies in our

breeding program. A combination of phenotypic screening and DNA marker-assisted selection ap-

proaches are being used for herbicide tolerance and disease and pest resistance traits with both

forward and backcrossing breeding methods.

Georgia and southeast soybean growers will be the primary beneficiaries of this research through

their reduced production costs and higher seed yields of glyphosate or glufosinate tolerant and

Asian soybean rust and nematode resistant soybean varieties that are of greater value to the poul-

try and swine industries.

Project Title: Development of High Yielding RR2Y/LibertyLink Soybean Varie-ties with Enhanced Seed Composition and Pest and Pathogen Resistance for Georgia Growers

Page 4 Georgia Soybean News

Investigator: James W. Buck, Department of Pathology

Project Objectives: i) to improve the in vitro toothpick stem canker inoculation assay of Keeling

(1982); and ii) to assess the virulence of Diaporthe aspalathi from three disease nurseries on multi-

ple soybean cultivars. The long-term goals of the proposed research are to streamline the green-

house assay to allow for future mapping projects with Dr. Zenglu Li.

Brief Description of Project: Southern stem canker, caused by the fungus Diaporthe aspalathi

(formerly D. phaseolorum f. sp. meridionalis), can be a devastating disease of soybean worldwide, and

particularly in the southern U.S. Diaporthe aspalathi survives on infected soybean residue with infec-

tive conidia or ascospores produced early in the spring. The most successful method for control-

ling stem canker involves the use of resistant soybean cultivars. Cultivar resistance to stem canker

is conditioned by at least five dominant resistance genes. Soybean stem canker nurseries are main-

tained at three locations in Georgia (Plains, Griffin, and Calhoun). These nurseries are used to

evaluate the multi-year field resistance of advanced breeding materials and have been maintained on the same locations for multiple years. Nothing is known about the virulence of D. aspalathi at

each location. The greenhouse assay for stem canker is difficult and time consuming and not cur-

rently done on UGA breeding materials.

2014 progress report: Stem samples were collected fall of 2014 from each disease nursery.

Stems were sectioned, surface disinfested and plated on acidified potato dextrose agar. Isolates will

be identified to species level using ITS sequence generated by PCR using primers ITS1 and ITS4.

Two isolates of Diaporthe aspalathi have been identified based on a BLAST search of the NCBI da-

tabase. An additional 25 Diaporthe-like isolates await identification.

Advanced breeding materials from the soybean program and also state entries in the variety testing

program were evaluated for stem canker in nurseries in Plains, Griffin, and Calhoun. 2014 plantings

included three replicate blocks each of 40 lines in the UT/UPT test and 36 lines each in the XT1,

XT2 and XT3 tests. Disease pressure was highest in Calhoun with average stem canker ratings for

‘Hutton’ and ‘G81-2057’ of 6.1 and 7.7, respectively (10 point scale) compared to 2.7 for both in

Plains.

Project Title: Virulence of isolates of the soybean stem canker fungus from disease nurseries in Georgia

Investigator: Ian Flitcroft, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences

Brief Description of Project: The project funds were used to partially support the salary of a

grant funded technician. In addition, a part-time temporary worker was hired at 10 – 15 hours a

week to assist with station maintenance and this grant supported some of his hours. The network

was upgraded in several ways during 2014, including the addition of back-up rain gauges and the

replacement of obsolete data loggers at ten stations. Several stations were converted to cellular

modem communication systems. A new version of the web server software was developed and

will be implemented shortly.

Project Title: Support of the UGA Weather Network

Page 5 Volume 2, Issue 1

Investigators: AL Bray, JN All, ZL Li, and WA Parrott; UGA CAES

Project Objectives: Make preliminary crosses for F2:3 mapping populations with the kudzu bug (KZB) resistant soy-

beans identified in the 2013 Midville field study; namely, PI567336A, PI567598B, and PI567301B.

Additionally, we will continue to develop mapping populations for QTLs D1a and C2, so that

these may be evaluated at a later date.

Confirm KZB resistance found in the 2013 Midville field study, and 6 Chinese lines that showed

KZB resistance in Athens fields in 2013.

Continue to screen additional insect resistant germplasm for KZB resistance; including 11 new

aphid-resistant lines, 36 uncharacterized insect resistance lines.

Request and increase seeds of MG V-VIII Japanese PIs from the USDA Germplasm Collection.

These would be lines from the area where the Japanese KZB is from.

Maintain the KZB colony and screen putative resistant lines in growth chamber assays.

Conduct a final year of IPM managed Benning NILs yield study to supplement a pending insect

resistant cultivar release.

Screen lines entered into the Georgia soybean State Variety Test for KZB resistance.

Brief Description of Project:

Objective 1: Crosses of KZB resistant lines, PI567336A, PI567598B, and PI567301B, were made during

2014 to a susceptible line for resistance loci mapping. Winter nursery will be used to advance these to the

F2 generation. Mapping populations of PI227687 and ‘Noir 1’ (C2 and D1a sources) were ad-

vanced to the F2:3 generation and will be available in 2015 for confirmation experiments.

Objective 2 & 3: During 2014 the KZB population across the Southeast did not reach the high

numbers we have observed in previous years, which made it difficult to screen for KZB resistance

in the field. Since KZB numbers in the field did not reach the threshold to reduce yield (25 adults/

plant at R1 stage), the data collected from our field experiments was not useful. Instead, we were

able to confirm 2013 Midville data using a growth chamber assay (see Objective 5).

Objective 4: Seed of Japanese PIs from the USDA Germplasm Collection was requested and in-

creased as needed in order to begin screening these lines in 2015.

Objective 5: During the summer of 2014 the KZB colony produced ~100 egg masses a week, which

enabled the KZB growth chamber assay to be validated. PI567336A and PI567598B, the two most

KZB resistant lines from the 2013 Midville test, were confirmed as resistant lines in the new

growth chamber cup assay.

Objective 6: A third year of large plot yield testing with the ‘Benning’ NILs was performed at the

Southeastern Branch Research and Education Center (SEBRC) near Midville, GA in 2014. Four

IPM treatments were evaluated, early May and late June planting date and treatment with or with-

out a single insecticide application at the KZB threshold of one nymph per sweep. A low popula-tion of KZB was observed on all treatments and a moderate beet armyworm infestation occurred

in the late planted treatments, however yield impact was insignificant. The yield was significantly

higher in most of the ‘Benning’ treatments planted in early May as compared to late June .

Objective 7: Due to the low KZB population in 2014, the Georgia State Variety Test could not be

evaluated for KZB resistance.

Project Title: Soybean Genes for Resistance to the Kudzu Bug

2425 South Milledge Avenue Athens, Georgia

Phone: 706-5422351 Fax: 706-542-9397

E-mail: gasoybean@gmail.com

GEORGIA SOYBEAN

COMMODITY

COMMISSION

Farmers Putting Soybean Checkoff Dollars to Work for You.

Commission Members

Greg Mims, Chairman

Donalsonville, GA

Ray Cobb

Davisboro, GA

Joe Moore

Resaca, GA

Brian Ogletree

Milner, GA

Tony Smith

Arlington, GA

Billy Skaggs

Executive Secretary

On December 17, 2014, Commission

Member Brian Ogletree of Ogletree

Farms, Milner GA, was interviewed by

China Central Television (CCTV).

CCTV is the largest news broadcaster

on earth, and is particularly influential

in Asia. The visit with Mr. Ogletree

will be included in an upcoming CCTV

program on GMO crops and their im-

pact on agriculture. The interview took place at Mr. Ogletree’s farm. During

the interview, Ogletree answered a variety of questions on GMO soybeans

including how GMO’s impacted yield, input costs and efficiency. Mr. Ogle-

tree also demonstrated the operation of spray equipment and toured the

CCTV crew around his farm. He represented Georgia farmers well and also

spoke on the future of Georgia agriculture. In addition, Mr. Billy Skaggs, Commission Executive Secretary & Georgia Crop Improvement Association

program manager, answered questions on plant variety protection, plant pat-

ents, and other general agricultural questions. The visit to Mr. Ogletree's

farm was part of a larger visit by CCTV to the UGA Institute for Plant

Breeding, Genetics and Genomics.

Georgia Soybean Commodity Commission member

interviewed by China Central Television