This study integrated hyperspectral imaging (HSI) indices with genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to quantitatively dissect the physiological and genetic basis of bentazon response in soybean. Conventional whole-plant spray methods often suffer fr...
This study integrated hyperspectral imaging (HSI) indices with genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to quantitatively dissect the physiological and genetic basis of bentazon response in soybean. Conventional whole-plant spray methods often suffer from low reproducibility due to environmental variability. To address this, five bentazon application methods were compared in this study. The "on-plant leaf dip" method demonstrated the lowest coefficient of variation (CV) and the highest stability, establishing it as the most reliable approach for phenotyping. An automated region-of- interest (ROI) extraction algorithm was developed to preserve leaf geometry and quantify vegetation indices, including Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI), Anthocyanin Reflectance Index 2 (ARI2), and Yellow Pixel Ratio (YPR). GWAS was performed using these indices measured at 5 days after treatment (DAT5) across 247 soybean accessions. A significant association signal was commonly detected on Chromosome 1 near 1.16 Mb (lead SNP AX-90404452) for NDVI, PRI, and YPR. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis defined a candidate region of approximately 39 kb, which contained four candidate genes: Glyma.01g012000 (LRR- NB-ARC domain), Glyma.01g012100 and Glyma.01g012200 (Lipase class 3), and Glyma.01g012300 (DUF59). This locus is distinct from the well-known CYP81E22 gene on Chromosome 16 and appears to be associated with early physiological responses, including photosynthetic inhibition and pigment degradation. In conclusion, this study established a standardized phenotyping framework using the on-plant leaf dip method and HSI-based quantitative traits. The integrated approach successfully identified a novel genetic locus associated with bentazon sensitivity, providing valuable insights and potential molecular markers for breeding bentazon-tolerant soybean cultivars.