Protecting Soybeans

Grady Rogers, an MS student at the Univ. of Missouri, has been looking at how the use of deer repellents in soybeans might deter deer feeding and mitigate the subsequent damage from such feeding. Mr. Rogers is conducting this research as part of the requirements for his MS degree under the direction of Dr. Kevin Bradley, Extension Weed Scientist at the university. Pertinent points from that research follow.

•   The objectives of the research were to 1) evaluate if mixing deer repellent products with herbicides affects weed control and crop injury, and 2) determine if deer repellent products reduce deer browsing.

•   Four deer repellent products were applied preplant and at soybean growth stages V3-V4 and R1-R2.

•   In the three test fields used in the study, the repellents did not significantly reduce deer feeding.

•   Soybean yields from plots that were treated with repellents were comparable to those from plots that received only herbicide.

•   The results from this research indicate that deterrent products are not a viable economical solution for mitigating deer damage to soybeans.

These results confirm those contained in the final report for MSPB-funded project 48-2014, which are “these results suggest that producers should reduce funds spent on repelling deer throughout the entire growing season, and only protect plants during the early growth stages if protection is absolutely necessary.”
 

A recent article titled “Seed selection key to managing soybean diseases” by Adam Sisson and Daren Mueller of Iowa State Univ. provides the following information regarding the best approach to disease management in soybeans.

•   Knowing a field’s history of disease presence is the first step in selecting a variety or varieties that have the best chance of producing a crop in the presence of a disease(s) that is/are known to occur in that field.

•   Select seed of a variety that has a high rating of resistance to the disease pathogen or type/population of a disease pathogen known to occur in the field to be planted.

•   Selecting seed of a variety with partial resistance or field tolerance to a disease pathogen can decrease yield loss and disease severity.

Click here to access a White Paper that contains links to seed companies that produce and sell seed of soybean varieties. Each company’s variety offerings, along with the traits of each variety [including its disease package], can be accessed by following the directions provided in the narrative following the link to each company.

Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, Oct. 2024, larryh91746@gmail.com