The North Central Soybean Research Program (NCSRP) approved $4.29 million in funding for continued research in fiscal year 2024 to support nine university-based projects. Iowa State researchers are involved in six of those projects, as listed below.

Madan Bhattacharyya, agronomy, will serve as a co-principal investigator (co-PI) on a project led by Jianxin Ma, Purdue University, titled “SOYRENSEQ: A Novel Approach for Disease Resistance Gene Discovery and Application for Soybean Improvement.”

Thomas Baum and Greg Tylka, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology, will serve as co-PIs with others in a project led by Andrew Scaboo, University of Missouri, titled “An Integrated Approach to Enhance Durability of Soybean Cyst Nematode (SCN) Resistance for Long-term, Strategic SCN Management (Phase III).”

Erin Hodgson and Matt O’Neal, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology, will serve as co-PIs on a project led by Kelley Tilmon, The Ohio State University, titled “Research and Extension on Emerging Soybean Pests in the North Central Region.”

Daren Mueller, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology, will serve as a co-PI on a project led by Damon Smith, University of Wisconsin, titled “Multi-Dimensional Approaches for Improved Productivity, Sustainability, and Management of Major Soybean Diseases in the North Central United States.”

Danny Singh, agronomy, will serve as a co-PI on a project led by Aaron Lorenz, University of Minnesota, titled “SOYGEN 3: Building Capacity to Increase Soybean Genetic Gain for Yield and Composition Through Combining Genomics-assisted Breeding with Characterization of Future Environments.”

Greg Tylka, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology, will serve as a co-PI on a project led by Sam Markell, North Dakota State University, titled “The SCN Coalition: Economics and Advancing Management.”

More information about these projects can be found on the National Soybean Checkoff Research Database, which also provides information about project researchers, objectives, progress reports and final results including how farmers will benefit from the work.