Evaluation of Soybean Seed Treatments and Seeding Rates on Soybean Grain Yield.

With the increase in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] seed cost and higher commodity prices, the use of soybean fungicide and insecticide seed treatments have increased over the past several years. However, with production margins becoming narrower, producers are faced with decisions on where to cut production cost. One area were soybean producers are saving some production cost is by reducing soybean seeding rates. In 2015, a study was conducted to compare the soybean grain yield response to three different seed treatments and six different seeding rates. Initial findings indicate that the all three seed treatments increased soybean grain yields at the lower seeding rates compared to the untreated check, but as seeding rates increased, no yield differences were seen with the seed treatments compared to the untreated check.