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Inheritance of a Male-Sterile Character in Soybeans

The inheritam:e of a male-sterile character in soybeans, Glycine max (L.) Merrill, was investigated in the F₁, F₂, and F₃ generations. Sterility was a result of nonfunctioning pollen. Male-sterile plants, although indistinguishable from fertile plants until the onset of maturity, remain green past usual maturity, have thick, leathery leaves, and have only a few, fleshy, one-seeded pods. The proportion of fertile to male-sterile plants in segregating populations indicated that the character is inherited as a single recessive gene pair. Plants were classified as male-sterile on the basis of pollen viability or plant morpho.logy. The genetic symbols ms,ms were proposed for the male-sterile character. In a natural crossing block, 99% of the seed obtained from malesterile plants were the result of cross-pollination. Low seed set and the lack of genetic markers for distinguishing male-sterile iplants before flowering restrict the use of this character in exploiting heterosis in the species.

Key Words: Pollen viability • Natural crossing • Glycine max (L.) Merrill • Soybean breeding

² Research Agrononist, Plant Science Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture and Professor of Crop Science, North Carolina State University; and Agricultural Researcb Technician, Plant Science Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Raleigh, N. C. 27607.

Received for publication January 25, 1971.