Identification of QTL underlying soybean agglutinin content in soybean seeds and analysis for epistatic effects among multiple genetic backgrounds and environments

Abstract

Abstract: Soybean agglutinin (SBA), a major anti-nutritional factor in soybeans, seriously affects the safety of and effects on feed animals. Soybean varieties with lower SBA contents could play a positive role in the promotion of the fodder industry. In the present study, one male parent, Hefeng 45, was used in three recombinant I bred line (RIL) populations to detect quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with SBA content across three different environments. As a result, a total of six, six, and four QTL related to SBA content were identified in the groups Hefeng 45 × Zhongdou 27 (HZ), Hefeng 45 × Dongnong 48 (HD), and Hefeng 45 × Taipingchuan Blacksoy (HT), respectively. Most of the QTL underlying SBA explained less than 10% of the phenotypic variation, but some major QTL with higher additive effects have stable expressions across different environments and RIL populations. On the contrary, many QTL dependent on the environment or RIL populations showed mainly weak effects, and gene × environment int...