Shu-qi DING, Tong CHENG, De-min RAO, Bi-kun WANG, Fan-gang MENG, De-bin YU, Ming-hao ZHANG, Wei ZHANG
In order to deeply investigate the dynamic changes of plant density tolerance in the process of genetic improvement of soybean, 50 soybean varieties bred in 1940s-2020s were selected as test materials in this study, and normal density (200,000 plants·hm-2) and high density (300,000 plants·hm-2) were set up to comprehensively analyze the characteristics of the changes in photosynthetic characteristics, stem lodging resistance, yield and yield components of soybean varieties from 1940s, 1950s-1960s, 1970s-1980s, 1990s-2000s, and 2010s-2020s under different densities. The results showed that the new improved varieties (1990s-2000s and 2010s-2020s) had higher photosynthetic characteristics, stem resistance, yield and yield components than the earlier varieties (1940s, 1950s-1960s and 1970s-1980s) at normal density. While at high density, the new improved varieties showed only 3.25% and 1.34% lower net photosynthetic rate and a significant (P < 0.05) increase in leaf area index of 8.02% and 8.56% in the late reproductive stage compared to normal density, which resulted in a slower rate of photosynthetic capacity decay and better green-holding compared to the earlier varieties. At the same time, the new improved varieties had 20.59% and 15.38% increase in lodging score compared with the normal density, and the increase in plant height and center of gravity height, and the decrease in stem diameter and fracture resistance were smaller than that of the earlier varieties, so plant stability was enhanced. In addition, the yield of the new improved varieties under high density significantly (P < 0.05) increased by 4.23% and 4.53%, while seeds per plant and 100-seed weight were relatively stable, decreasing only by 12.37%, 7.87% and 2.87%, 2.89%, respectively, compared with the normal density. The results of principal component analysis showed that with the advancement of the breeding process, the new improved varieties could construct a larger leaf area index at high density, enhance the greening of their functional leaves, maintain a high net photosynthetic rate, and enhance the ability of the stem to resist lodging, which fully ensured the physiological state of the plant in the late stage of fertility with stable grain filling, and laid a solid foundation for the soybean varieties to obtain high yields. Therefore, under high density, the new improved varieties have better density tolerance characteristics, their functional leaves are strong in greening, photosynthesis capacity is higher and lasts longer, the accumulation of photosynthesis products is higher, plant stability is strengthened, the phenomenon of lodging is reduced, and the population structure tends to be more reasonable, so as to maintain a high seeds per plant and a relatively stable 100-seed weight, which significantly improves the yield.