Establishment of the integrated applied core collection and its comparison with mini core collection in soybean (Glycine max)

The concept of core collection (CC) provides a new way of management and utilization of plant germplasm resources. In this study, an integrated applied core collection (IACC) of soybean was developed based on evaluation data for desirable agronomic and nutritional traits of available soybean germplasm resources including accessions with cold tolerance, drought tolerance, salt tolerance, soybean cyst nematode resistance, soybean mosaic virus resistance, high protein content, and high fat content. The newly formed collection encompasses accessions with high genetic diversity and desirable agronomic traits. The genetic diversity of the newly formed IACC was compared with that of the established mini core collection (MCC) of soybean with the aid of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers and phenotypic traits. The results showed that at the molecular level, soybean IACC harbored a similar level of genetic diversity as the established MCC, and that at the phenotypic level the IACC encompasses more accessions with desirable traits than does the established MCC. The development of soybean IACC lays a foundation for breeding projects to meet different objectives in different eco-regions.