ABSTRACT
Advances in flood-tolerant varieties of soybean C. Wu, L. Mozzoni and W. Hummer, University of Arkansas, USA; P. Chen, G. Shannon, H. Ye and H. T. Nguyen, University of Missouri, USA; G. Kaur and J. Orlowski, Mississippi State University, USA; T. Carter, USDA-ARS, USA; and B. Buckley, Louisiana State University, USA
1 Introduction
2 Flooding stress and damage
3 Responses of soybean to flooding
4 Agronomic management strategies
5 Breeding soybean for flooding tolerance
6 Summary
7 References
Flooding is a major abiotic stress on crop and forage production worldwide, affecting approximately 10% of global agricultural acres (Patel et al., 2014) and causing anything from negligible harm to complete crop losses. The term ‘flooding’ can be used to describe the inundation by water of all or part of a plant (Bailey-Serres et al., 2012), and is categorized into waterlogging, partial submergence and complete submergence, based on the water level affecting the crop. Waterlogging is the complete saturation of the soil pores with water, exposing the root system of the plant to anaerobic conditions. Partial submergence occurs when the soil pores are saturated and a layer of water forms at the surface of the soil, inundating both the root zone and a part of the above-ground portion of the plant. Complete submergence occurs when the entire plant, including roots and shoots, is covered by water. In current agricultural production systems, partial submergence is the most common scenario worldwide (Ahmed et al., 2013; Striker, 2012).
