‘Ellis’ soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] cultivar (Reg. No. CV‐523, PI 680630) was developed by the University of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station and was released as a late maturity group (MG) IV high‐yielding conventional (non‐genetically modified) cultivar in 2013. Ellis is an F5–derived single plant selection from the cross between two high‐yielding University of Tennessee cultivars, ‘5601T’ and ‘5002T’. In extensive field trials, Ellis has shown excellent adaptation and performance in Tennessee, the Mid‐South region, and the Southeast region of the United States. Ellis exhibits a relative maturity of 4.9, determinate growth habit, white flowers, gray pubescence, and tan pod wall. It is resistant to stem canker and southern root knot nematode and shows field tolerance to frogeye leaf spot. The protein and oil concentrations of Ellis seed enable it to produce high protein meal (>48% protein in the meal fraction). Ellis's excellent seed yield coupled with its ability to produce high protein meal gives this new cultivar high estimated processor values. It will be useful as a parent to soybean breeders, valuable as a new high‐yielding cultivar to producers, and profitable to processors.

Evaluating different breeding selection strategies for relative utility is necessary to choose those that maximize efficiency. Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] seed yield and fatty acid, protein, and oil contents are all commercially important traits that display complex quantitative inheritance. A soybean population consisting of 860 F5–derived recombinant inbred lines (RILs), genotyped with 4867 polymorphic single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) was used to compare phenotypic and context specific genomic selection (GS) strategies. To simulate progeny rows, each RIL was grown in a single plot in 2010 in Knoxville, TN, and phenotype was recorded. A subset of 276 RILs with similar maturity was then grown in multilocation, replicated field trials in 2013 to compare the performance of each selection method in field conditions. Notably, the preferred method for each trait was GS. Of the GS approaches evaluated, Epistacy performed best for yield, and BayesB and/or genomic best linear unbiased prediction (G‐BLUP) were preferred for each of the other traits. Yield was the only trait for which the predictions had a large change when the number of SNPs and the number of RILs were randomly reduced for the G‐BLUP model, with the best predictions occurring when RILs with different maturity that were not grown in 2013 were removed from the training set. These findings provide important information on how soybean breeders can maximize selections from the progeny row stage for yield and fatty acid, protein, and oil contents by using appropriate selection strategies.

The conventional (non-genetically modiied) soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] line 'TN11-5102' (Reg. No. CV-526, PI 686908) was released by University of Tennessee Agricultural Research in 2017 as a cultivar because of its high seed yield potential in Tennessee and the southern US region. The objective of its development was to provide a new cultivar combining high seed yield with high protein soymeal. The rationale is that US soybeans bred for high yield typically lead to lower protein concentration. TN11-5102 was developed from 1 of 653 F 21 single plant selections within cultivar 5601T. Progeny rows were selected on the basis of adapted maturity, lodging resistance, disease resistance, and pod density. Selections were carried forward for yield testing. TN11-5102 is resistant to southern root knot nematode and is resistant to stem canker. It has white lowers, gray pubescence, tan pod wall, and a determinate growth habit. The plants show good resistance to lodging. Averaged over 3 yr (2014-2016) of the USDA Southern Uniform Testing Program, TN11-5102 had 421 g kg −1 protein on a dry weight basis and 216 g kg −1 oil on a dry weight basis, and it is capable of producing 490 g kg −1 protein in the soymeal. It will serve as an excellent parent line in breeding for high yield and improved protein.

Interest in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] isoflavones has increased in recent years owing to numerous reported health benefits. Consequently, quantitative trait loci (QTL) detection for marker‐assisted breeding for isoflavones is being examined for genetic gains. This study sought to detect QTL for soybean isoflavones in a population of 274 recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross between ‘Essex’ and ‘Williams 82’ that were subdivided and tested by maturity (early, mid, and late). The field tests were conducted in three environments in 2009 (Knoxville, TN; Harrisburg, IL; and Stuttgart, AR). The population was genotyped with 480 polymorphic single nucleotide polymorphism markers. Isoflavones for each replicate were analyzed by near infrared reflectance spectroscopy, whose prediction equation was based on high performance liquid chromatography. Each maturity test, containing 91 or 92 recombinant inbred lines, was analyzed separately for QTL. In total, 21 QTL were detected: 7 for genistein (chromosomes 5, 6, 9, 13, 17, and 19), 5 for daidzein (chromosomes 5, 6, 9, 13, and 19), 3 for glycitein (chromosomes 6, 9, and 20), and 6 for total isoflavone content (chromosomes 5, 6, 9, 13, and 19). Of these 21 QTL, 12 were confirmed or positional confirmations from other studies. Utilization of these QTL could potentially lead to marker‐assisted selection approaches for genetic gains in improving soybean isoflavones.

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