Producers are often “sold” a number of different products, seed varieties, herbicides, insecticides, or growth promotion products, which are pitched as yield maximizers. The ability of these products to increase yield may be questionable, as companies do not typically utilize acceptable statistical practices and field trial design to produce repeatable conclusions. What is additionally questionable is the profitability of these products. Producers need an unbiased source to compare the
performance and profitability of these products, namely seed varieties, to make decisions that maximize profitability on their operations. Moreover, it is important to evaluate seed varieties across the geographic and climatic regions of the state so producers across the state can select varieties appropriate for their specific conditions as well as all-around consistent varieties. As weather conditions continue to be unpredictable and variable, there is value in selecting soybean varieties that perform well across variable conditions to minimize risk of profit loss.
The transition from vegetative to reproductive growth in indeterminate soybeans depends on the detection of night length, or number of hours without sunlight as the season continues. As soybeans are planted later into the growing season, they do not have as much time to develop biomass. They also miss the opportunity for longer days and intercepting additional sunlight, to drive photosynthesis towards production of pods – which could decrease yield. The general hypothesis is a longer growing season, and therefore greater photosynthesis, could increase soybean yields. With interest from growers to evaluate early planting dates impact on soybean yield, we will duplicate the entire trial at one early plant date at two locations (one Eastern Shore, one Western Shore) to evaluate a yield response to early planting across many varieties and multiple maturity groups.
Funding for these small, statewide, and applied projects is difficult to obtain. These comparisons are performed at the state level and do not often qualify for support from USDA or other federal grant programs. Although major seed companies provide entries fees to support the corn variety trials, their provision of support may lead some to question if there is bias in the results. The funding provided from commodity organizations across the country is invaluable to the performance of these unbiased product comparisons.