The Plant Management Network (PMN) has posted several items that provide useful information for all soybean producers.

First, Dr. Jim Orf, Professor of Soybean Breeding and Genetics at the University of Minnesota, is featured in a Focus on Soybeans webcast that explains maturity group (MG) designations of soybean varieties that are developed by public and private institutions in the US and Canada. Soybean is classified as a photoperiod-sensitive plant, and its development is mainly in response to day length. Thus, soybean varieties are grouped according to their photoperiod response, or their development in response to day length, and are designated as belonging to a particular MG based on that response. This classification gives growers knowledge about how a particular variety within a particular MG will develop based on date of planting at a given latitude.

Second, a summary article with a link to a research article entitled “Long-term effects of cover crops on crop yields, soil organic carbon stocks and sequestration” presents results from a 12-year study conducted in southern Illinois that showed that, although using hairy vetch and cereal rye cover crops did not improve corn and soybean yields, it did increase the amount of sequestered soil organic carbon (SOC) above the pre-study baseline levels in both tilled and no-till systems. This new information is important as soybean producers contemplate using cover crops in their production systems to enhance sustainability of production. Click here for a detailed discussion about using cover crops in Midsouth soybean production.

Third, in an earlier blog I presented some points to consider before deciding to include grain sorghum as a rotation crop with soybean in the Midsouth. One of those points was the recent incursion of the white sugarcane aphid into Midsouth grain sorghum fields, and how that can affect both yield potential of and profitability from a sorghum crop. Two recent developments may temper the concern about that pest expressed in that blog.

• Two Dekalb® sorghum hybrids exhibit a high level of genetic tolerance to the sugarcane aphid.


• Several Sorghum Partners® sorghum hybrids have demonstrated strong tolerance to the sugarcane aphid pest.

Both of these developments may allow producers to consider sorghum as a viable rotation crop with soybeans.

This will be my last blog for 2014. So, I wish you a safe and prosperous 2015. I trust and hope that your endeavors in the upcoming crop year lead to high yields and profits. Let’s all work toward repeating the successes of 2014, and work even harder to push the yield bar even higher.

Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, Dec. 2014, larryheatherly@bellsouth.net