Assessing the Need of Pre-germination Anaerobic Stress-Tolerant Varieties in Indian Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill)

In the wake of unprecedented extreme precipitation scenario, this paper attempts to evaluate the need of breeding efforts to develop soybean ideotypes for moisture extremes in case of excessive rainfall in highly productive soybean areas of India. During the monsoon months, the decadal rainfall analysis in selected high soybean-producing districts of Madhya Pradesh (highest rainfall 350.27 mm in July), Maharashtra (highest rainfall 223.73 mm in July) and Rajasthan (highest rainfall 290.06 mm in August) indicated that the crop has every chance to get exposed to waterlogging stress in its initial stages of germination (pre-germination) and initial seedling establishment, thereby adversely affecting the vegetative phase of the crop. Hence, genetic enhancement of soybean through tolerant varieties/cultivars to pre-germination anaerobic stress should be a viable strategy to overcome waterlogging in any case, providing good yield to soybean producers.