Performance of transgenic and conventional soybean plants subjected to bioassay for detection of glyphosate tolerant seeds

Abstract The adoption of genetically modified soybean cultivars is increasing annually around the world, which indicates the excellence of these genotypes. For soybean breeding, the use of such cultivars in a backcross program relies on the ability to detect the transgenic trait. The germination test in a moistened substrate with glyphosate is effective and of low cost, however, wonders whether this is a non-destructive method to check cultivars. The objective of this study was to apply a bioassay for detection of herbicide-tolerant seeds and to evaluate the vegetative and productive development of the plants. It was observed that both glyphosate-tolerant and glyphosate-sensitive plants were affected in the initial stages of development in accordance with the herbicide application rate. However, whereas tolerant plants fully recover both in vegetative growth and production during the cycle, sensitive plants recover partially, producing smaller plants with lower yield as a consequence of the herbicide application rate.