In January 2011, members of the Midsouth Soybean Board (MSSB) met in Dumas Arkansas to plan a strategy for implementing and supporting regional projects that would benefit Midsouth soybean producers. At that meeting, it was decided that the first such project should be a multi-state effort designed to aid producers in selecting the appropriate soybean maturity group (MG) from which to select varieties based on latitude and intended planting date.

After months of planning and discussion, this project was submitted for consideration, and received joint funding from the USB and the MSSB participating states. Dr. Larry Purcell of the University of Arkansas was asked and agreed to lead this project. Its official title became “Effect of Planting Date, Latitude, and Environmental Factors on Choice of Maturity Group in Midsouth Soybean Production”.

Following the completion of 3 years (2012-2014) of field research at 11 Midsouth locations, a resulting data set was used to develop an online decision support tool called SOYMAP (Soybean Maturity, Analysis, and Planning).

This support tool is based on simulations specific for soybeans, and 30-year weather data from the 11 locations. At each location, simulations were run for weekly planting dates from March until the end of June and for MG’s from 3 to 6 in one-half MG increments when planted on either a silt loam or clay soil.

The support tool, when queried, provides a comparison between any two MG’s for a given location, planting date, and soil type. Resulting information includes yield responses, predicted dates of R1, R5, and R8, irrigation requirements, and economic returns.

The SOYMAP link is also posted in the Variety Selection section of the Planting/Agronomy page on this website.

I encourage you to access this tool, become familiar with it, and use it for your operation. In my opinion, it is a major breakthrough for providing heretofore unavailable information that will be invaluable to Midsouth soybean producers.

Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, Jan. 2016, larryheatherly@bellsouth.net