4 Pl4—Lancaster Farming, Saturday,.February 12,1983
Solid-seeded soybeans put money in producers’ pockets
LIMBURGERHOF, West
Germany Farmers who are
good production managers can put
extra dollars in their pockets by
converting from traditional wide
row soybeans to solid-seeded or
narrow-row beans.
That observation was voiced
recently by Edward S. Oplinger,
University of Wisconsin
agronomist, at an AgriView
Seminar sponsored by BASF
Wyandotte Corporation here. The
AgriView Seminar was attended
by more than SO U.S.
agribusinessmen to learn about
innovative farm production
techniques.
Oplinger said farm managers
who have their production
programs under control can expect
to increase their soybean yields by
per acre every time their
row width is narrowed by just one
inch. For example, just by
reducing his row width from 30 to
20 inches, a grower potentially
could increase yield by 5 bushels
per acre.
Put another way, Oplinger
pointed out, a grower potentially
could pick up about $3 more per
acre every time row width is
narrowed by one inch if soybeans
are selling at |6 per bushel.
Narrow-row soybeans are drilled
in row widths ranging from 20
down to 10 inches. Solid-seeded
beans are drilled in rows no further
apart than 10 inches.
Oplinger said the yield response
of soybeans to solid-seeding has
been known since the 19505. But he
said fanners couldn’t seriously
consider solid-seeding until the
advent of improved drills, new
soybean varieties and the in
troduction of effective
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postemergence herbicides in the
late 19705.
Because solid-seeded soybeans
are too narrow to walk between, let
alone mechanically cultivate,
effective control of grasses and
broadleaf weeds by
postemergence herbicides usually
is essential. Effective
postemergence chemicals offering
broadspectrum broadleaf weed
control without crop damage have
been on the market since 1976.
Generally speaking, Oplinger
said, research indicates that
shorter, less branched and earlier
maturing soybean varieties
respond best to drilled beans in any
given production area. He said
extensive research is underway at
universities throughout the
Soybean Belt to develop new
varieties suited to solid-seeding.
Oplinger said solid-seeded
soybeans tend to have denser
canopies than can be more con
ducive to disease development by
restricting air .movement.
However, he added, studies in
dicate the higher podding height of
solid-seeded plants produce seed
with less disease and higher
germination.
“Thus,” Oplinger concluded,
“solid-seeding may actually be a
technique for improving seed
quality.”
“In most years, Oplinger ob
served, “soybeans yield more
when planted in early May than
when planting is delayed to late
May or early June. This is par
ticularly true in the shorter
growing season areas where
maximum yields mean early
planting.”
But in cases where farmers want
to double crop soybeans behind
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small grain crops, or weather
prevents planting' on schedule
before early June, Oplinger said,
“part of the penalty for delayed
planting,” can be avoided by solid
seeding.
Oplinger said soaring production
costs, coupled with double-digit
inflation and interest rates, are
convincing soybean farmers to try
new production techniques capable
of providing them with optimum
yields. He said those practices also
include minimum tillage, crop
rotation and soybeans double
cropped after small grain crops.
“Many of the innovations are in
the embryonic stage of develop
ment and refinements are con
stantly being made," he said.
“Cultural practices of the future
which are being studied and
developed may be available to the
farmer within the next 5, 10 or
perhaps 15 years.” Oplinger said
other developments include “super
innoculants” and plant growth
regulators (PGR’s).
“Super innoculants, capable of
fixing larger amounts of nitrogen
have been identified in growth
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chambers and greenhouse studies.
Oplinger said super innoculants
are capable of enhancing nitrogen
availability but researchers are
still studying how to make it
available under actual field con
ditions.
Oplinger said PGR’s potentially
could alter the plant structure or
even one of its basic physiological
processes to enhance yields,
reduce lodging, increase pod set,
decrease harvest loss, increase
light interception or improve grain
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quality and quantity. Researchers
are still working to identify the
compounds that will enhance
growth.
“New techniques for soybean
production are emerging every
day,” Oplinger noted “Not all
production areas or even growers
within any given area will be able
to utilise them completely. Dif
ferences in soil, climate and in
dividual .growers’ situations will
dictate their acceptance.”
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