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Spacing Pattern and End‐Trimming on Solid‐Seeded Soybean Plot Comparisons
Author(s) -
Philbrook B. D.,
Oplinger E. S.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1988.00021962008000050006x
Subject(s) - cultivar , sowing , trimming , seeding , growing season , yield (engineering) , mathematics , agronomy , row , biology , materials science , database , computer science , metallurgy , operating system
Planting soybean [ Glycine max (L.) Merr.] in solid stands increases grain yields for many producers. Testing techniques that simplify plot work but separate the effects of adjacent plots in solid‐seeded soybean have not been described. This study was conducted to determine the influence of plot planting patterns and time of end‐trimming on soybean cultivar comparisons in a solid‐seeded system. The effects of three planting patterns and end‐trimming at two stages of growth on yield, yield components, and agronomic characteristics of six cultivars were investigated in field studies conducted near Arlington, WI, from 1982 through 1984. All patterns had seven 0.18‐m harvest rows plus a border row spaced 0.28 m from each of the outside harvest rows that created a tramline through the plot. Yields of cultivars were inflated 6% when the distance between border rows of adjacent plots was increased from 0.18 m in Pattern 1 to 0.48 m in Pattern 2; however, relative yield differences among cultivars were consistent. Adding an additional border row using a common cultivar (Pattern 3) increased the distance between harvest rows of adjacent plots without increasing the distance between their borders. Soybean planted using Pattern 3 performed more consistently with respect to lodging, plant height, and yield than when either of the other patterns was used. Plot yields were inflated an average of 10% when plot ends were not end‐trimmed late in the season near plant maturity, as opposed to early season end‐trimming only. Cultivars did not respond uniformly to end‐trimming in 1983. Final plant density, pods per plant, and seed weight averaged 55, 60, and 6% more in the plot ends than in the middles, while the number of seeds per pod was unchanged. Response of pods per plant to end effects was greater for ‘Hardin’ and ‘Corsoy 79’ in 1982, and ‘Hodgson 78’ in 1984 than for the other cultivars. Techniques for solid‐seeded soybean plot comparisons are improved by using additional border rows to separate plots and by end‐trimming at or near harvest maturity.