Soybean breeding and selection is a continual process designed to increase
yield levels and improve resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Soybean
breeders have been successful in producing a large number of varieties using
conventional breeding methods, the Single Seed Descent method in particular.
In recent decades, with the increased use of genetic transformations,
backcrossing is more frequent though the only trait that has been
commercialized is glyphosate tolerance. Physiological breeding poses a
particular challenge, as well as phenotyping and development of useful
criteria and techniques suitable for plant breeding. Using modern remote
sensing techniques provides great opportunity for collecting a large amount
of physiological data in real environment, which is necessary for
physiological breeding. Molecular based plant breeding methods and techniques
are a conceptual part of any serious breeding program. Among those methods,
the most extensively used is marker-assisted selection, as a supplement to
conventional breeding methods.
New trends in plant breeding - example of soybean