Soybeans

Agronomy News-July 2022, Volume 13, Issue 4. Topics in this issue are:

Volume 13, Issue 2

Resources on growing organic grain

Organic grain production is promoted for greater potential profits with premium grain prices, improved soil health with organic inputs and fewer environmental hazards in the absence of synthetic chemical use. However, the three-year period required for organic certification is a challenging phase when transitioning farmers are learning to do without synthetic chemical manage soil fertility, weeds, diseases and pests, while not yet receiving those attractive premium prices (Delate and Cambardella, 2004). Organic grain production, if done regeneratively, may reduce environmental impacts and increase ecosystem services from agriculture. Among the latter, minimization of nutrient loss to water is especially important in Maryland, since a good deal of the nitrogen and phosphorus pollution to the Chesapeake Bay comes from agriculture (2025 Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs)). However, the change in environmental impacts due to the transition from “conventional” to organic farming could be either positive or negative (Bavec and Bavec, 2015), depending on the system of practices (inputs, soil disturbance, soil cover, etc.) utilized in the conventional and organic systems (Röös et al., 2018).

Reports of slug damage to emerging soybean seedlings (Glycine max) have increased in recent years, though their activity is highly variable from field to field, and within a field from year to year. Spring, 2021 weather was both cool and wet, conditions that many slug species find ideal. Slug eggs overwinter in the soil, hatch in the spring, and the juvenile slugs can begin causing damage to crops in just a week’s time after hatching (Hammond et al. 2009).

Trials were established at the Wye Research and Education Center in Queenstown, MD in 2020 to assess the efficacy of select fungicides for the suppression of foliar diseases of soybean.

Trials were established at the Western Maryland Research and Education Center in Keedysville, MD in 2020 to assess the efficacy of select fungicides for the suppression of foliar diseases of soybean.

September Grain Market Summary

As soybeans begin the pod fill growth stages, heat and drought stresses can trigger the development of many disease symptoms. Currently we are seeing many instances of stem diseases in soybean. Many pathogens are associated with stem diseases in soybean, and many produce very similar foliar symptoms, which is why diagnosis from foliar symptoms alone typically leads to a misdiagnosis. Submit questionable samples to the UMD Plant Diagnostic Lab for proper identification. Common soybean stem diseases and their symptoms/signs are outlined below.