Increasing Field Emergence in Low Phytic Acid Soybeans with Seed Treatments.

Increasing Field Emergence in Low Phytic Acid Soybeans with Seed Treatments

Ben Averitt¹, Bo Zhang¹, Greg Welbaum²
1. Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, 2. Department of Horticulture, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060

            Phytic acid (PA) accounts for up to 75% of the phosphorus in soybean seeds. However, these storage molecules are indigestible by mono- and a-gastric animals rendering soymeal based feeds inefficient. The wasted PA in animal effluent can also lead to detrimental effects such as eutrophication leading to massive environmental damage. Therefore, low-PA (LPA) soybean varieties have been developed, but these varieties often exhibit low field emergence making them commercially non-viable. The objective of this experiment was to investigate the effect of various seed treatments on the field emergence of LPA soybeans. Two LPA and high PA (HPA) varieties were used in this experiment along with any combination of two fungicides, crushed diatomaceous earth, and matric priming. Seeds without treatment were used as the control. Plots were planted in a triplicated split plot design in Blacksburg and Orange, VA with irrigation as a splitting factor. Irrigation was used only until emergence to create a high pressure environment for seedling growth. Field emergence rates were taken at the V1 stage. After harvest, all plots were analyzed for yield as well as phytic acid content. Results showed that irrigation and location had the greatest effect on field emergence across all varieties. Irrigation significantly decreased field emergence while those plots grown in Orange had significantly higher emergence. Among the seed treatments, Apronmaxx had the greatest positive effect with an average emergence of 81.9% across the varieties compared to an 80.2% average emergence rate amongst the control groups. All priming treatments displayed a significant decrease in emergence except priming with Rancona Summit, a fungicide, which significantly increased emergence on LPA variety V12-BB144, the only treatment to significantly improve emergence in either LPA variety. Yield was not significantly affected by any treatments. In conclusion, seed treatments can be a useful tool for increasing the field emergence of LPA soybean varieties to agronomically viable levels. However, due to the lack of consensus between varieties and overwhelming impact of environmental conditions, more research is needed to determine specialized treatments based on individual varieties and the environments in which they are to be grown.