Soybean management practices in the sandy pampas region, Argentina

DIAZ ZORITA, MARTIN; BRAMBILLA, C; DUARTE, G.A.; FERNÁNDEZ CANIGIA, M.V.

Durban, South Africa

Conferencia; World Soybean Research Conference IX; 2013

The recent and abundant availability of technologies for soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] production supports part of the expansion of this crop in the sandy pampas region of Argentina. These management practices, among others, include the use of seed treatments for rizobia inoculation and disease protection, fertilization with macro and micronutrients, foliar fungicides for late season diseases control, varied weed and pest products, etc. Although the benefits several of these technologies have been individually validated, the regional information about the contribution under uniform production conditions (i.e. soil type, planting date, genotype, previous crop, tillage, etc.) is limited. Our objective was to quantify the single and the cumulative effects of frequently recommended soybean production practices for achieving high yields in the sandy pampas region of Argentina. The study was performed during the 2011/12 growing season in 3 production fields close to América (Buenos Aires province) where 10 crop management treatments were established. The use of better soybean production practices increases 8.2 % the grain yields compared with regular management practices. The application of biological seed treatments with Bradyrhizobium japonicum combined with LCO signal molecules for plant growth promotion, the use of residual herbicides and the foliar fertilization with Boron explained more than 80% of the described benefits in grain yield. The use of modern pest and disease control treatments reduced its incidence, but because of the low initial presence the effects on grain yield were no significant. In this region, the achievement of high soybean yields requires the adequate availability of production resources (nutrients and water) in conjunction with an efficient nitrogen nutrition supported by biological seed treatments and the fertilization with limiting micronutrients and to reduce weed competition for them. The application of modern pest and disease control treatments can reduce their incidence and minimize the reduction in attainable yields. The use of selected improved technologies practices supports the development of high productive soybeans crops to sustain agricultural systems in the sandy pampas region of Argentina.