RESEARCH

SoyMizzou FD-REEC breeding program in the Mid-South U.S. focuses on developping resilient varieties equipped to wihtstand drought, flooding, heat, and herbicide stress across diverse environments and soil types. By integrating advanced phenotyping, genomics, and untapped potential of wild soybean, we aim to future- proof soybean prodcution against the challenges of changing environment.

Our program aims to enhance soybean tolerance to key biotic stresses, including soybean cyst nematodes, phytophthora root rot, cercospora leaf blight, and insect pest such as stink bugs. Through breeding and genetics approaches, we aim to develop resilient soybean varieties that maintain productivity under pest and pathogen pressure.

SoyMizzou FD-REEC breeding program is dedicated to enhancing seed composition traits such as protein, oil, fatty acids profile and carbohydrates to meet evolving needs of food, feed, and industrial markets. We leverage genetic diversity to improve nutritional quality and value.

Our program aims to establish a fast neutron mutagenesis method, with a long-term goal of developing, selecting, and releasing mutant lines that possess an elite genetic background.This approach not only aids in the identification of new beneficial genes but also greatly reduces the time required to develop new varieties with improved traits. 

Our program integrates advanced UAVs based multispectral and RGB imaging to accelerate phenomics-assisted breeding for key economic traits such as yield, stress tolerance and seed composition.

SoyMizzou FD-REEC breeding program studies photosynthesis in diverse germplasm in the field to uncover genetic variability, enhance seed yield potential and stress resilience by combining high-throughput ground sensors and aerial imaging. We also focus on understanding the genetic architecture of photosynthetic traits for breeding applications.