Evaluation of Seed Treatments for Soybean Production in Western Kentucky in 2013.

Growers continue to look for new innovative ways of boosting soybean yields. Seed treatments can be an effective way of protecting early seedlings from disease and insect pressure especially during cool damp environments, allowing the seed access to defense mechanisms, and sometimes triggering genes to aid in stress or initiating root growth at an early stage. For this particular study, the objective was evaluating various soybean seed treatments for growth and yield for growers in the Western Kentucky production area. The seed treatments in observation consisted of 1) fludioxonil, mefenoxam fungicides, 2) thiamethoxam insecticide, 3) lipo-chitooligosaccharide, Bradyrhizobium inoculants, 4) harpin protein, 5) pyraclostrobin, metalaxyl, fluxapyroxad fungicide, 6) pyraclostrobin, metalaxyl, fluxapyroxad, imidacloprid, harpin protein, 7) mefenoxam, fludioxonil, thiamethoxam, 8) ipconazole, metalaxyl, lipo-chitooligosaccharide with inoculants, 9) control, no seed treatment, and 10) N,N’-diformyl urea. The plots were planted early on May 9, 2013 at a location on Murray State University research farm using a 4.9 maturity soybean planted with radial bean meters that better singulate the seeds. The 2013 growing season marked the third year of conducting this research with an addition of a new seed treatment and modifications to treatments 5 and 6. There were eight replications of the ten treatments studied. Plant population measurements taken over three dates were pooled and analyzed. The average plant population was 144,785 plants per hectare, with some highly significant differences found. Treatments 8 and 4 had significantly higher plant populations compared to treatments 7, 10, 3, 9, and 1. Growing conditions of the 2013 growing season offered ample rainfall with relatively cool temperatures. Observations of plant population, early vigor, insect counts, canopy closure, and lodging notes were monitored throughout the season. Harvest dates took place on October 9, 2013 and finished on October 10, 2013. Yields averaged to 3997.67 kg/ha with a 375.40 kg/ha difference between the highest yielding treatment and lowest. As a result, yields showed to have no significant difference between seed treatments at LSD of .10.