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Article: The soy seed saver.(USDA soybean germplasm collection)
- Article from:
- Farm Journal
- Article date:
- January 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Farm Journal Media. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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It looks forgotten--a small steel storage shed tucked away in a remote corner of the University of Illinois' test farm. But every soybean scientist in the world knows this place, and farmers should too. It houses soybean secrets and safeguards the genetic diversity of the crop.
Scientists estimate there are only 35 ancestral lines contributing 95% of all the genetic material in U.S. soybeans. Narrowing the family tree further, five of those lines are thought to make up more than half of today's soybean gene pool.
In their zeal for yield, breeders usually cross parent lines from currently adapted varieties that have high production traits and are closely ...