Investigating Lodging Mitigation Strategies for Soybean
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Study Background
- In the Mississippi Delta, soybeans are planted using various row spacings and configurations.
- Planting dates typically range from late March through June and seeding rates vary from 110,000 seeds per acre to more than 160,000 seeds per acre.
- Soybean varieties differ in their ability to resist lodging.
- Lodging tends to be worse on productive silt loam soils and exacerbated by wide row spacings, high populations, and May plantings.
- Reducing seeding rates, especially in wide row spacings, has often been used as a strategy to reduce lodging.
Objective
- Evaluate the effects of planting date, seeding rate, row spacing, and variety on lodging and yield of soybeans grown in Mississippi on a productive silt loam soil.
Study Description
| Plot Layout: | On-farm strip trial | |
| Location: | Leland, Miss. | |
| Year: | 2014 | |
| Factors: | ||
| Variety/Brand1: | ||
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| Row Spacing and Configuration: | ||
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| Seeding Rate: | ||
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| Planting Date: | ||
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Figure 1: Effect of planting date and Pioneer® brand soybean on harvest standability near Leland, Miss. in 2014.*
*Means followed by the same letter within individual varieties are not significantly different based on Tukey’s HSD test conducted at the alpha=0.05 level. Harvest standability score based on 1-9 scale where 1=completely lodged and 9=planted completely vertical. Means averaged across 2 seeding rates and 2 row spacings.
Side-by-side comparison of Pioneer® variety P49T80R (top) and P47T36R (bottom) grown in 40-inch rows in a 2014 Pioneer® GrowingPoint® agronomy research trial near Leland, Miss.
Figure 2: Yield advantage of 19-inch row spacing over 38-inch row spacing by planting date for Pioneer® brand soybeans near Leland, Miss. in 2014.*
*Means averaged across 2 seeding rates and 2 varieties.
Figure 3: Yield advantage of 140,000 seeds per acre seeding rate over 100,000 seeds per acre seeding rate by planting date for Pioneer® brand soybeans near Leland, Miss. in 2014.*
*An asterisk above a bar indicates a significant difference between seeding rates for individual planting dates based on Tukey’s HSD test conducted at the alpha=0.05 level. Means averaged across 2 seeding rates and 2 varieties.
Results
- Harvest standability was improved with the earliest planting for both varieties (Figure 1). Standability of Pioneer® variety P47T36R was better than Pioneer variety P49T80R at later planting dates (analysis not shown).
- Reducing seeding rate did not improve harvest standability (data not shown).
- Narrow rows were most beneficial with early plantings (Figure 2). The yield benefit of narrow rows was 10, 4, and -1 bu/acre for April 11, April 21, and May 9 planting dates, respectively.
- Overall, narrow rows yielded an average of 3 bu/acre better than wide rows (data not presented).
- Higher seeding rates were more beneficial with earlier planting dates (Figure 3). The yield benefit associated with increased seeding rates was 12, 5, and 2 bu/acre for April 11, April 21, and May 9 plantings, respectively.
- Increasing the seeding rate from 100,000 seeds per acre to 140,000 seeds per acre increased yields 6 bu/acre on average (Figure 4). Packing rains shortly after April plantings resulted in crusting that reduced stands. Higher seeding rates likely aided in stand establishment.
Figure 4: Effect of seeding rate on yield of Pioneer brand soybeans near
Leland, Miss. in 2014.*
*Means followed by the same letter are not significantly different based on Tukey’s HSD test conducted at the alpha=0.05 level. Means averaged across 2 row spacings, 2 varieties, and 3 planting dates.
¹All Pioneer products are varieties unless designated with LL, in which case some are brands. Pioneer® brand products are sold subject to the terms and conditions of sale which are part of the labeling and purchase documents.
2014 data are based on average of all comparisons made in one location through Nov. 11, 2014. Multi-year and multi-location is a better predictor of future performance. Do not use these or any other data from a limited number of trials as a significant factor in product selection. Product responses are variable and subject to a variety of environmental, disease, and pest pressures. Individual results may vary.
Always follow grain marketing, stewardship practices and pesticide label directions. Varieties with the Glyphosate Tolerant trait (including those designated by the letter “R” in the product number) contain genes that confer tolerance to glyphosate herbicides. Glyphosate herbicides will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate.