2015
Managing soybean growth during the vegetative stages with a field roller
Contributor/Checkoff:
Category:
Sustainable Production
Keywords:
Field management
Parent Project:
This is the first year of this project.
Lead Principal Investigator:
Missy Bauer, B&M Crop Consulting
Co-Principal Investigators:
Project Code:
1522
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
Institution Funded:
Brief Project Summary:

Interest from farmers on using large field rollers has been increasing for the last couple years. The rollers have been looked at in other areas of the country to manage rocks and improve harvest ability. One area that has not been looked at as extensively is the potential benefits on plant stress using a roller to trigger more branching or bushiness during the early vegetative stages. If early season stress during the vegetative stages can improve branching or nodes per plant, there would be potential in crease in pods and seeds resulting in higher yields. Previous studies conducted by B&M Crop Consulting have shown this stress effect by using Cobra herbicide to improve nodes and pods per...

Unique Keywords:
#soybean utilization
Information And Results
Project Deliverables

Final Project Results

Two Year Final Summary
Stressing a soybean mechanically is safer on average than using a chemical stress. Over the two years the Cobra stress averaged 0.7 Bu/ac increase (Figure 10) compared to the control, resulting in an economic loss of $8.14 per acre. Over the six site years the Cobra stress had a positive economic return only twice. Of the two site years with a positive return to Cobra stress one location had moderate to heavy white mold pressure the other site year had soybeans that averaged over 80 Bu/ac. The mechanical stress with the roller at V1 averaged an increase of 2.4 Bu/ac with an economic return of $16.02/ac over the two years. The yield response is due to an improvement in individual plant yield components and a reduction in harvest loss. When evaluating the best timing for rolling over the two years, the V1 timing is optimal. Rolling at V3 breaks
too many plants below the cotyledon, adds too much overall stress to the plant, and often increases harvest loss resulting in inconsistent yield responses with an average increase of only 1.2 Bu/ac compared to the control. The Post-Plant rolling offers reduced harvest loss and increased yields on average 0.8 Bu/ac across the two years compared to the control. About 50% of the yield gained with the Post-Plant rolling is coming from reduced harvest loss; the rest is coming from an improvement in individual plant yield components. However, it is unclear why the Post-Plant rolling is improving the yield components. It may be due to improved plant to plant uniformity at emergence and less plant to plant competition.

The United Soybean Research Retention policy will display final reports with the project once completed but working files will be purged after three years. And financial information after seven years. All pertinent information is in the final report or if you want more information, please contact the project lead at your state soybean organization or principal investigator listed on the project.