Phytophthora rot is a major soybean disease in the Eastern US corn belt. The objective of this experiment was to determine the genetic relationship between tolerance to phytophthora rot and agronomic traits measured in environments where the disease was not a factor. A set of 66 random lines from a broad‐based population was evaluated for agronomic traits in seven field environments and for tolerance in greenhouse tests. Pairs of resistant and susceptible isolines were used to determine whether phytophthora rot was present in the field environments. The phenotypic correlation between tolerance and yield in five environments where phytophthora was negligible was non‐significant (r =−0.09). There was a positive correlation between tolerance and seed weight (r = 0.31) and a negative correlation between tolerance and plant height (r=–0.25). None of these correlations is large enough to hinder development of agronomically acceptable, tolerant cultivars.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Martin et al. (1994) studied this question.