The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture has released its first soybean variety that features Roundup Ready technology.

Division soybean breeder Pengyin Chen said the new variety, called UA 5414RR, offers the weed control advantages of Roundup Ready soybeans without the cost of technology fees. He said growers could also save seed from each harvest for planting the following year.

Monsanto’s patent on the first generation of Roundup Ready products expires in March 2015, Chen said, and the company shared the breeding material with public breeding programs, including the Arkansas program directed by Chen. He said UA 5414RR fills a niche for growers who want to use the Roundup system of weed control but don’t want to pay the higher cost of the next generation Roundup Ready 2 Yield technology.

Chen said Monsanto’s first generation Roundup Ready products have been replaced by Roundup Ready 2 Yield® products and will no longer be offered.

UA 5414 RR is a maturity group 5 soybean that yielded an average of 56.3 bushels per acre in the Arkansas Variety Testing full-season tests conducted at numerous locations around the state. Chen said the variety’s yield was about 93 percent of the most popular varieties used as checks during field tests.

“It’s not the top-yielding Roundup Ready variety,” Chen said, “but that’s offset by lower production costs, including lower initial purchase price, no technology fees and the ability to save seed for planting in following seasons.”

UA 5414RR is broadly adapted for growing conditions throughout Arkansas, Chen said.

According to the results from the 2011 USDA Uniform Preliminary Soybean Maturity Group V Test and Arkansas Soybean Performance Tests from 2011 to 2013, UA 5414RR is resistant to stem canker, moderately susceptible to frogeye leaf  spot, and susceptible to soybean cyst nematode (races 2, 3, 4, 5, and 14), southern root-knot nematode, and reniform nematode.

Chen said the Division of Agriculture’s Foundation Seed Program at Stuttgart, Ark., has about 2,000 bags of UA 5414RR available now for seed dealers and growers. For information about obtaining seed, call (870) 673-2661.