Maternal Effects on Fatty Acid Composition of Soybean Seed Oil

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe success of genetically altering the fatty acid composition of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) seed oil is determined by the rate of genetic gain through selection. Maternal effects can influence genetic gain. Objectives of this study were to investigate the presence and magnitude of maternal effects on fatty acid content of soybean oil. Maternal effects for unsaturated fatty acid content were evaluated over 2 yr using reciprocal F1 soybean seed from crosses between the mid‐oleic/low‐linolenic line ‘N98‐4445A’ and six cytoplasmically diverse cultivars. Maternal effects were significant across genetically diverse materials and likely the result of the phenotype of the maternal plant. The magnitude of the maternal effect was typically less when N98‐4445A was used as the maternal parent. These data suggest that selection based on the oil composition of single F2 seeds might be ineffective but less so if the altered fatty acid parent is the maternal parent. Maternal effects on saturated fatty acid content were evaluated both in the field and in vitro using reciprocal F1 soybean seed from the cross between the high‐palmitic line ‘N02‐4441’ and ‘Dare’. Maternal effects were significant when grown in the field. When reciprocal F1 and parental 25 d old embryo seeds were grown in vitro, maternal effects between reciprocal crosses were not apparent, while significant differences between the parents were maintained. This suggests that factors translocated from the maternal plant may be causing the maternal effect on developing F1 seeds.