Reproductive success of soybean (Glycine max L. Merril) cultivars and exotic lines under high daytime temperature.
The objectives were to (a) quantify the effects of high daytime temperature (HDT) from gametogenesis to full bloom on photosynthesis and pod set in soybean (Glycine max L. Merril) genotypes and (b) assess the relationships among photosynthesis, cardinal temperatures for pollen germination, in vitro pollen germination percentage, canopy reflectance, and pod-set percentage. Three field experiments were conducted, and Experiment I had HDT between gametogenesis and full bloom (36.5°C to 38.6°C) compared with Experiments II and III (29.5°C to 31.6°C; optimum temperature). HDT decreased photosynthesis (22%) and pod-set percent (11%) compared with Experiment III. Cultivars had higher photosynthesis and pod-set percent than plant introduction (PI) lines. The cultivars (i.e., IA3023 and KS4694) and PI lines (i.e., PI393540 and PI588026A) were HDT tolerant and susceptible, respectively. The decreased pod-set percentage in susceptible genotypes (PI lines) was associated with pollen characteristics. Significant positive (r2  ≥ 0.67) association between photosynthesis, cardinal temperatures for pollen germination (Topt and Tmax ) with pod-set percentage was observed. However, a negative (r2  ≥ -0.43) association between photosynthesis and pod set with canopy reflectance at visible spectrum was observed. In vitro pollen germination and canopy reflectance at visible spectrum can be used as a high-throughput phenotypic tool for breeding HDT-tolerant genotypes.