Researchers working on soybean development

Jul 10, 2020

Scientists from two universities are working to develop varieties that are more resilient to heat

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

University scientists are working on developing soybean varieties that can better withstand some of the stressors of a growing season.

Dr. Bill Schapaugh, an agronomy professor and soybean breeder from Kansas State University (KSU), is leading work on a three-year project to develop varieties that can tolerate heat stress in the post-flowering development stage.

Krishna Jagadish, a crop physiologist from KSU, and Henry Nguyen and Tri Vuong, geneticists from the University of Missouri, are also contributing to the research. The work is funded through a $500,000 award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

High daytime temperatures during the post-flowering stage of development can reduce yield and quality, which affects a farmer’s ability to market the crop.

“The long-term goal of this research is to strengthen the development of commercial soybean varieties with improved tolerance to heat stress,” Schapaugh said in a release. “We are focusing on post-flowering because environmental stresses, such as heat, tend to have the largest impact on seed yield and seed composition during this period of growth.”

Additionally, research from Penn State University projects that if warming trends continue, the best corn and soybean growing conditions could shift from Iowa and Illinois to Minnesota and the Dakotas.

To develop new cultivars, Schapaugh’s research team will monitor different cultivars’ yield and composition during heat stress through a process called phenotyping, map genomic regions for sustaining yield and validate haplotypes. A haplotype is a group of DNA characteristics that tend to be inherited together.

The researchers will also grow soybeans in custom tents placed over test plots. The sun will heat the tents, the air inside will be controlled, and electronic panels will help regulate the temperature.

Farms.com has reached out to KSU and farm groups for comment.

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.