Variety Information for the 2018 Season
Several resources that will help with your soybean variety selections for 2018 have been posted on the website and are summarized below.
Dr. Trent Irby, MSU Extension Soybean Specialist, and Dr. Tom Allen, MSU Extension Plant Pathologist, have compiled a summary of the “2017 MSU Extension Soybean Variety Demonstration Program” that was conducted at 32 locations in 17 Mississippi counties. MG IV and MG V varieties that contained Roundup Ready [RR], Roundup Ready 2 Xtend [RR2X], or LibertyLink [LL] herbicide resistance traits were grown on both irrigated [23] and nonirrigated [9] sites. This program was funded through MSPB’s Project No. 36-2017.
Dr. Jeremy Ross, Assistant Professor/Extension Soybean Agronomist with the Univ. of Arkansas, has compiled “Cross Reference Guide for Common Soybean Varieties–2017" which should be consulted by producers to ensure that the intended selection of different varieties from different seed companies is in fact accomplished. Click here for a brief explanation of why a company’s soybean “variety number” should not be assumed to be a unique soybean “variety”.
Metribuzin is a Group 5 herbicide that provides residual control of various annual grass and broadleaf weeds in soybean. It provides an additional mode of action that can be incorporated into a weed control strategy to reduce the risk of weeds developing resistance to commonly used herbicides with other modes of action. However, soybean varieties vary in their sensitivity to this herbicide. Each year, scientists/specialists with the Univ. of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture conduct screenings of soybean varieties to test their tolerance/sensitivity to metribuzin. Click here for those ratings to ensure that selected varieties that will be grown where metribuzin will be applied have an acceptable level of tolerance to this herbicide.
The Variety Selector tool on this website is an excellent resource that provides a way of selecting varieties based on their performance and traits [e.g. yield, herbicide resistance, disease tolerance] when planted in various environments [e.g. planting date, location, soil texture, irrigated/nonirrigated] in both Mississippi and Arkansas. Data from both states’ 2017 Soybean Variety Trials [SVT] are being added as they become available.
Using Multi-State Variety Trial Results is a White Paper on this website that contains links to Mississippi and adjoining states’ SVT websites. This allows producers access to variety performance data obtained from a wide range of Midsouth latitudes. Also, some SVT locations in states other than Mississippi may be closer to a Mississippi producer’s location than a Mississippi SVT location. Thus, a producer can easily access these pertinent data through a link in this article. The links are being updated with 2017 results as they become available. Preliminary yield data from the 2017 Mississippi SVT’s can be accessed here.
Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, Nov. 2017, larryheatherly@bellsouth.net