Effect of plant spacing on yield of different soybean varieties

Abstract

Seed is one of the most expensive inputs in soybean production. Therefore, with the increasing population limiting land available for agriculture, farmers should plant at optimum spacing level to maximize profits. Different Ugandan soybean varieties are being planted at 60cm×5cm, more information is needed on how soybean can perform at other spacing levels. The objective of this study was to; determine the right inter row spacing for different soybean varieties. The six soybean varieties included Maksoy 1N, Maksoy2N, Maksoy3N, Maksoy 4N and Maksoy 5N, Maksoy 6N that were planted in a split plot experimental design at 5 spacing levels which included 70cm×5cm,60cm×5cm,50cm×5cm,40cm×5cm and 30cm×5cm. The yield parameters that were analyzed included grain yield, 100 seed weight, number of pods per plant and number of seeds per pod. Other agronomic parameters included leaf area, leaf area index, plant height and number of branches. The effect of the treatments was not significant on the leaf area, and number of seeds per pod. However, the varieties had a significant effect on these parameters. There was significant effect of the treatments on the grain yield where Maksoy 6N had the highest yield with 2069 kg/ha at the spacing of 40cm×5cm and Maksoy 5N had the lowest yield with 901kg/ha at 50cm×5cm.From the results above, it was observed that these spacing levels affected the yield of these soybean varieties. Therefore, it is advisable to plant Maksoy 1N, Maksoy 2N, Maksoy 3N and Maksoy 6N at 40cm×5cm, Maksoy 4N at 30cm×5cm and Maksoy 5N at 60cm×5cm as it will give higher yields. However, further studies should be done with increased number of seasons.