Increasing soybean yield plays a key role in meeting the high demand for protein in Europe and other countries. The aim of this study was to dissect the genetic architecture underlying seed yield, plant height, protein yield and thousand‐seed weight in early‐maturing soybean. To this end, we performed QTL mapping based on 944 RILs derived from a half‐diallel crossing design of five parents. We identified five to eight QTL for each of the four agronomic traits and some explained a considerable proportion of the genotypic variance. The three major QTL showed pleiotropic effects on two or more traits. Fine characterization revealed the maturity genes E1 and E3, and the stem growth habit gene Dt2 as likely candidates underlying these QTL. In general, the allele increasing seed yield also resulted in taller plants, which needs to be considered during selection due to an increased risk of lodging. Collectively, our results underline the strong effect of some loci like the E1 gene on a range of traits including seed yield, making them attractive targets for a marker‐assisted selection.

中文翻译：

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鉴定来自早熟品种的二元杂交的944大豆（最大大豆）RIL的种子产量和农艺性状的QTL

大豆单产的提高在满足欧洲和其他国家对蛋白质的高需求方面起着关键作用。本研究的目的是剖析早熟大豆种子产量，株高，蛋白质产量和千粒重的遗传结构。为此，我们基于944个RIL进行了QTL映射，这些RIL来源于五个亲本的半圆角交叉设计。我们为这四个农艺性状中的每一个确定了五到八个QTL，有些解释了相当一部分的基因型变异。三个主要的QTL对两个或多个性状表现出多效性效应。精细鉴定揭示了成熟基因E1和E3，茎生长习性基因Dt2作为这些QTL潜在的候选者。通常，等位基因增加的种子产量也导致植株更高，由于倒伏风险增加，因此在选择时需要考虑。总的来说，我们的结果强调了某些基因座（例如E1基因）对包括种子产量在内的一系列性状的强大影响，使其成为标记辅助选择的诱人靶标。