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Updated list of aphid-resistant soybean varieties available for Minnesota

by Siddhi Bhusal, Anthony Hanson, Aaron Lorenz and Robert Koch

An updated list of commercially available aphid-resistant soybean varieties that are suitable to grow in Minnesota can be found in a revised version of an Extension publication titled, Aphid-Resistant Soybean Varieties for Minnesota. Soybean aphid is one of the major pests of soybean in Minnesota, causing significant yield loss. Management of soybean aphid has relied on foliar insecticides, but insecticide resistance has developed in this pest and poses a challenge for soybean production. Planting aphid-resistant soybean varieties can help to reduce insecticide inputs, and thereby decrease selection pressure for further development of insecticide resistance. Aphid-resistant soybean varieties can provide an effective, economical, and more environmentally sustainable means of protecting soybean from soybean aphid. Soybean breeders have developed soybean varieties that carry aphid-resistance traits, in addition to other promising agronomic characteristics. 

However, availability of aphid-resistant soybean varieties remains limited. Therefore, the U of MN Soybean Breeding Program, in collaboration with U of MN Department of Entomology, is working on pyramiding various combinations of Rag1, Rag2, Rag3/rag3, and rag4 genes of aphid resistance in soybean varieties adapted to Minnesota conditions and with superior traits for other agronomic factors. Hundreds of breeding lines carrying different combinations of these resistance genes are being tested for their agronomic performance in the field. The breeding lines with higher yield and superior agronomic traits will be released as new varieties and made available to the growers. Varieties with multiple aphid-resistance genes will provide more effective and durable resistance against multiple biotypes of soybean aphid.

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