ActiveGermplasmDatabase(AGD)ofEmbrapa
Soybeananalyzes21wildsoybeanspeciesto
broadenthegeneticvariabilityof thekernel
Fotos: Divulgação
An unprecedented research conduct-
ed in Brazil, under the coordination of Em-
brapa Soybean, consisted in seeding wild
soybean to study its behavior and identi-
fy its characteristics. In all, 21 species were
analyzed, coming from partnerships with
the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
and the University of Sidney, in Australia.
Through the regeneration and storing of
these seeds, the idea is to make it possible
tobroaden thegenetic variabilityof the soy-
bean and add gains to the supply chain.
The work started in early 2016, and has
practically been concluded. According to
researcher Marcelo Fernandes de Olivei-
ra, curator of the Active Germplasm Data-
base (AGD), the seeds were stored in the
collection maintained by Embrapa Soy-
bean in Londrina (PR). With about 35 thou-
sand types of soybean, the database ranks
as third biggest in the world, and preserves
accesses to several countries utilized in va-
riety enhancement programs.
This is the first time these seeds were
catalogued in the Country in vegetation
compartments. For the development of
the study, planting, harvesting and thresh-
ing of the plants are carried out manually,
which is very accuratework. The teamcar-
ries out systematic activities that include
seed catalogs, multiplication, identifica-
tion of the peculiarities of the seed, like
productivity, plant size, cycle, resistance
to diseases, taste and climate tolerance,
among other aspects.
Oliveira explains that, after having
Ancestral
wealth
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