ASA Southern Branch 2008 Annual Meeting
February 3-5, 2008
Dallas, TX

Tuesday, February 5, 2008 - 8:05 AM

Comparing Maturity Group IV Soybeans with Later Groups in South Carolina.

Pawel Wiatrak, Clemson University, Edisto REC, 64 Research Road, Blackville, SC 29817

Maturity Group (MG) IV soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] varieties are relatively new to South Carolina. Due to different physiological development of most MG varieties compared to later MG varieties, there is a need to evaluate management practices of early planted soybeans. The objective of this research was to compare five seeding rates (4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 seeds per 1 foot of row and 38 inch row spacing) of MG IV soybeans with later MG soybeans. The experiment was conducted at the Edisto Research and Education Center near Blackville, SC. Due to different maturity groups and therefore different harvest dates, each MG was planted separately. The grain yields ranged from 30.4 to 35.5 Bu/A for MG IV, 38.3-47.4 Bu/A for MG V, 30.3-35.5 Bu/A for MG VI, 33.9-37.7 Bu/A for MG VII, and 20.3-24.2 Bu/A for MG VIII. However, there was no significant difference between seeding rates for grain yield and also test weight, seed weight, and seed number per 1 lb. The seed moisture was significantly lower at lowest seeding rate for MG V and no different for other MG soybeans.