Inheritance of resistance to Phomopsis seed decay in PI 360841 soybean

Phomopsis longicolla Hobbs is the primary cause of Phomopsis seed decay (PSD) in soybean. Infection may result in moldy seed and poor germination. The objective of this study was to conduct inheritance studies to characterize resistance to PSD in plant introduction (PI) 360481. Crosses were made between PI 360841 and 2 PSD-susceptible genotypes, Agripro (AP) 350 and PI 91113, to determine the number of genes for resistance. Additionally, crosses were made between PI 360841 and Phomopsis resistant parents MO/PSD-0259 and PI 80837 to test the allelism of the resistance genes. Seed infection assays were done using seed from parent plants and F(2) populations. Chi-square analysis of the resistant x susceptible F(2) data fit to a 9R:7S model for 2 complementary dominant genes conferring PSD resistance in PI 360841. Segregation for reaction in the F(2) of MO/PSD-0259 x PI 360841 exhibited a good fit to a 57R:7S model for 2 complementary dominant genes from PI 360841 and a different dominant gene from MO/PSD-0259. There was no apparent segregation in the F(2) population from PI 360841 x PI 80837 except for one suspicious susceptible plant, suggesting one of the genes in PI 360841 is the same gene in PI 80837 for PSD resistance.