Data from: Identity recognition in response to different levels of genetic relatedness in commercial soybean

Identity recognition systems allow plants to tailor competitive phenotypes in response to the genetic relatedness of neighbours. There is limited evidence for the existence of recognition systems in crop species and whether they operate at a level that would allow for identification of different degrees of relatedness. Here we test the responses of commercial soybean cultivars to neighbours of varying genetic relatedness consisting of other commercial cultivars (intra-specific), its wild progenitor Glycine soja, and another leguminous species Phaseolus vulgaris (inter-specific). We found, for the first time to our knowledge, that a commercial soybean cultivar, OAC Wallace, showed identity recognition responses to neighbours at different levels of genetic relatedness. OAC Wallace showed no response when grown with other commercial soybean cultivars (intra-specific neighbours), showed increased allocation to leaves compared to stems with wild soybeans (highly related wild progenitor species), and increased allocation to leaves compared to stems and roots with white beans (inter-specific neighbours). Wild soybean also responded to identity recognition but these responses involved changes in biomass allocation towards stems instead of leaves suggesting that identity recognition responses are species-specific and consistent with the ecology of the species. In conclusion, elucidating identity recognition in crops may provide further knowledge into mechanisms of crop competition and the relationship between crop density and yield.