Soybean Crop: A Review on the Biotechnological Advances and Expectation for Modern Cultivars

Abstract

The soybean crop is extremely important for Brazilian agribusiness, generating millions of dollars in the country’s exports. Since its introduction in Brazil, soybean has undergone a process of technological modernization, receiving in the recent year’s new technologies that have provided a revolution in the production system, increasing mainly grain yield, as well as facilitated phytosanitary managements (pests, diseases, and weeds) and edaphoclimatic adaptation. Brazilian soybean producers yearn for new genotypes that make it easier to manage the crop and reduce input expenditures. New technologies are emerging or being improved to meet this demand. This review explores the technologies that are already available to soybean producers, inserted by the molecular breeding, such as Inox, Intacta, Cultivance, Libert Link and Enlist E3. It also brings the news that will be available to the market in a few years, such as Intacta 2 Xtend, Hb4, and other technologies to increase phenotyping and genotyping in breeding programs and insertion of characteristics to increase plant efficiency. Biotechnology is advancing at a frenetic pace and year after year, new techniques and tools are being made available for breeding programs around the world, which result in the production of new productive cultivars, conventional or transgenic, that are resistant to abiotic and biotic factors.