Environmental stability of oleic acid concentration in seed oil for soybean lines with FAD2-1A and FAD2-1B mutant genes

Elevating oleic acid in seed oil improves oxidative stability and is desirable for expanding edible and industrial uses of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]. Soybean lines with up to 800 g kg ^-1 oleic acid concentration were developed by combining a recessive mutant allele at the FAD2-1A locus (Glyma10 g42470) with either of two different recessive mutant alleles at the FAD2-1B locus (Glyma20 g24530). However, oleic acid concentration for some higher oleic acid genotypes can be affected by growing conditions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the stability of oleic acid concentration among 10 soybean lines with elevated oleic acid and eight checks with typical oleic acid levels over six environments. High oleic genotypes with genes combined from crossing M23 with the FAD2-1AΔ mutant and PI567189A with the FAD2-1B mutant I143T accumulated less oleic acid, and means for oleic acid concentration ranged from 551 to 729 g kg ^-1 across environments compared to 202 to 263 g kg ^-1 in the check cultivars. Significant variation among environments indicated that genes from different sources can affect both concentration and stability of oleic acid of these soybean genotypes grown in different environments.