Breeding and selection work to develop better adapted varieties are under way at most of the southern experiment stations in the cooperative program. New strains are entered in the uniform tests across the region as rapidly as they are developed. The varieties are grouped by maturity, In conformity with the system established by the Regional Soybean Laboratory in 1938. The varieties and strains of the Uniform Tests, groups 0 to IV, are adapted to the Northern States. The southern varieties are entered in the progressively later maturing groups of VI, VII, and VIII. Through the mid-South, the strains of group VI normally mature from October 1 through October 15, those of group VII, October 16 to 30, and group VIII, November 1 and later. The maturity of these groups is a few days later across the upper South and earlier in the lower South. Varieties of late September maturity, group V, have not yet been developed. Because of the interest in very early maturing beans, the varieties and strains of group IV are being grown at a number of locations across the upper South. Cooperators in the region carefully note yields, with other agronomic and morphologic data. Seed samples from the tests are sent to the Urbana laboratory for chemical analyses. All data on new varieties are taken from the regional variety tests. Because the varieties in the tests were regrouped in 1944, only 2-year averages are given.

The new, early-maturing strain, S100, has consistently yielded above the commercial varieties of this maturity. It is a rogue out of Illini, and was developed under the direction of B. M. King, agronomist of the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station. The seeds are yellow and medium in size. S100 is tall-growing, with gray pubescence and white flowers. The principal objection to it is its low content of oil. It yields well and is well adapted along the northern rim of the southern region, but excellent yields of good quality beans have been obtained from it as far south as Stoneville.

Ogden is the most productive soybean of midseason maturity for the South. It was developed from a selection from the cross, Tokyo X P. I.

54610, by the late H. P. Ogden, associate agronomist of the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station. Ogden is erect, bushy, and medium tall. It has gray down on leaves and stems-pubescence-and purple flowers. The seeds are olive yellow, medium in size, and high in quantity of oil. It is more resistant to leaf diseases, particularly bacterial pustule, than the other kinds of the same maturity. But under very dry conditions Ogden will shatter shortly after maturity. Shattering appears to be more severe on light-textured, infertile soils. Ogden is well adapted to the central and upper part of the South; it has led all varieties of group VI maturity in yield in 19 out of 23 tests where 2-year average yields are available-an outstanding record in view of the wide variation in soil and climatic conditions across the South. Breeders of soybeans have made many crosses of Ogden with nonshattering varieties, and a number of promising nonshattering, high-yielding, hybrid lines from the crosses have been put under test.

Two other new kinds, Volstate and Roanoke, of late October maturity, group VII, are distinctly superior to the old varieties. Volstate, also of Tennessee origin, was selected by H. P. Ogden at the same time from the same cross (Tokyo X P. I. 54610) as Ogden. It is medium tall, with gray Pubescence and white flowers. It matures 10 days to 2 weeks later than Ogden and produces high yields of excellent yellow seed.

Roanoke was selected as a single plant from a mixed seed lot in the fall Of 1941. The strain was developed under the direction of J. A. Rigney, associate agronomist of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, in cooperation with E. E. Hartwig of the Department. It was entered in the Regional Variety Test, group VII, in 1944. Its excellent showing the first year in the tests and in other tests in North Carolina left little doubt as to its superiority. It resembles Volstate in appearance, with gray pubescence, and yellow seed of medium size. Roanoke is higher in oil and has yielded slightly more than Volstate. Both varieties are superior to Wood's Yellow in yield, resistance to shattering, and content of oil. Seed stocks of Roanoke were increased in 1945. Approximately 500 bushels of certified seed were available for further increase in 1946.

Volstate and Roanoke are adapted to an area that includes the lower half of Arkansas and the upper third of Louisiana, extending eastward through the mid-South, the Piedmont, and Coastal Plain areas of North Carolina; neither is adapted to the lower South and Southeast.

A third promising variety, CNS, is like Roanoke and Volstate in maturity. CNS was selected out of the Clemson variety by J. E. Wannamaker of St. Matthews, S. C. Plants of CNS are of medium height, with tawny pubescence and purple flowers. The yellow, medium-size seeds number approximately 3,400 to the pound, compared to Palmetto's 3,700 seeds to a pound. The oil content of CNS is low, but it is higher than that of Palmetto. CNS is well adapted to the Coastal Plain soils of South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama and is resistant to bacterial pustule, a serious leaf disease. Breeders have used CNS in crosses to get resistant varieties adapted to other regions.

The new late-maturing varieties, Pelican, Acadian, and L. Z., appear to be promising for the lower South. All three were selected from crosses made by John P. Gray, associate agronomist of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station. Their seed is yellow, with dark-brown or black hilums, and medium small to small in size. Acadian has 3,520 seeds to the pound, L. Z. 3,890, and Pelican 3,950. The oil content of each is much higher than Wood's Yellow and Mamloxi. All 3 are tall-growing types, but lodge very little in the lower Coastal Plain area. They hold their seed well and shatter much less than established varieties. Pelican, Acadian, and L. Z. have been tested for 3 years in the Uniform Variety Test, group VIII. They have yielded equally well through the southern half of the region, but are particularly well adapted in southern Louisiana and to the Coastal Plain soils in southern Alabama and Georgia.

THE AUTHOR

Paul R. Henson is an agronomist at the U. S. Regional Soybean Laboratory, Stoneville, Miss., in the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering.