5 Key Tips for Soybean Seed Selection
The seed business is ever-changing, writes Kriss Nelson at the Iowa Soybean Association. Seed trends, traits, and how pests react to those traits change every year.
The most important management practice for highly profitable soybeans is variety selection. Before making seed selection decisions, consider these tips:
1. Carefully consider soybean maturity groups. Mid- and late-season weather and harvest are all factors to consider when choosing the right maturity group.
“First, understand what maturities fit your region for maximum yield frame,” says Joel Thomas, Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) farmer-member and Pioneer seed salesman from Dallas Center.
Once regional maturity groups are identified, choose wisely so your soybeans do not mature simultaneously.
“Harvesting soybeans when they are too dry can make an otherwise good soybean variety look average due to harvest loss at the header,” says Scott Nelson, ISA senior field services program manager. “To prevent lost bushels, spend time fine-tuning your soybean variety maturities so you will have time to harvest when soybeans are at optimum moisture.”
Having some diversity in maturities has another advantage when it comes to weather. Early-, mid- and late-season maturity soybeans will have different responses to weather throughout the season.
2. Be selective when adopting new herbicide traits. The seed industry is rapidly releasing soybean varieties with new forms of herbicide resistance.
“In some cases, the soybean varieties containing these traits are very offensive without much stress resistance bred into them,” says Nelson. “Understand these new varieties, and place them in the proper environments for increased profitability.”
Know what species of weeds you are trying to control and who will be applying the herbicide, Thomas says. Also be aware of sensitive crops in neighboring fields.
Read more at the Iowa Soybean Association.
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