Seed Coat Cracking in Soybean Isolines for Pubescence Color and Maturity

Seed coats of soybean crack under various stress conditions. Cracking of seed coats degrades the external appearance of soybean seeds and reduces their commercial value. Previous studies revealed that the T gene responsible for pubescence color, and the maturity genes, E1 and E5, had inhibitory effects on low-temperature induced seed coat cracking. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the T gene and five maturity genes (E1 to E5) on the intensity of seed coat cracking induced by pod-removal treatments. Soybean cv. Harosoy (te1e2E3E4e5) and its near-isogenic lines for T and E1 to E5 loci were used in the experiment. Cracking was induced by removing the upper 50% of pods on the plant 40 d after anthesis. Frequency and degree of cracking were not different among the isolines in the control group. In contrast, there were significant differences among isolines subjected to the pod-removal treatment. Frequency and degree of cracking was low in Harosoy, Harosoy-E1, e3, and e4, and high in Harosoy-T and E2. The results suggest that genotypes at T and E2 loci were associated with severity of seed coat cracking induced by pod-removal. There was a positive correlation (r = 0.90**) between individual seed weight and frequency of cracking among isolines in the pod-removal treatment. Seed coat cracking was probably exacerbated in part by the genes that allow enlargement of individual seeds in response to pod-removal. The differences among isolines suggest that the mechanism of seed coat cracking induced by pod removal may differ from that induced by low temperature treatment.