Abstract
This study was conducted to estimate potential weediness by quantitatively evaluating the growth characteristics associated weedy risk of the living modified (LM) soybean and its relative soybeans. The LM soybean and cultivated soybean Kwangan-kong showed similar growth characteristics with bigger canopy height, stem diameter and leaf area, while shorter stem length than wild soybean, which has indeterminate growth. In the case of reproductive growth and seed production traits, wild soybean produced significantly greater number of flowers, pods, and seeds, and showed greater pod shattering than LM soybean. When low dose of glufosinate was present as selective pressure, the viability of glufosinate-resistant LM soybean was significantly higher than the relatives due to transgene benefit. Since wild soybean has higher adaptability to the natural environment than cultivated soybean and produces greater number of seeds, this suggests that there is a potential weedy risk of the hybrids between LM soybean and wild soybean. Therefore, long-term studies are required on the subsequent generations of hybrids between LM and relative soybeans for risk management of LM soybean in natural and agricultural environment of Korea.
Figures & Tables
Fig. 1. Vegetative growth characteristics in canopy height (A), stem length (B), stem diameter (C) and leaf area (D) of Kwangan-kong (○), LM soybean (●) and wild soybean (□) measured until 70 days after sowing. Leaf area was measured at 70 days after sowing. The points and the error bars represent the mean values and the standard errors of 6 replications respectively.
