Soybean is a legume crop that is high in protein (40%) and oil (20%). It fixes nitrogen in the soil and has numerous uses for food and industry. Soybean grows best in warm, moist climates with loamy soil between pH 5.2-7.5. Common pests include leaf folders, stemfly, leaf blight, seedling rot, and frog eye leaf spot. Effective management includes crop rotation, resistant varieties, biological and chemical controls. Intercropping soybean with maize or rice can help control pests while systems like maize-soybean or maize-groundnut are suitable for the region. Yields of 2.0-2.5 t/
Soybean is a legume crop that is high in protein (40%) and oil (20%). It fixes nitrogen in the soil and has numerous uses for food and industry. Soybean grows best in warm, moist climates with loamy soil between pH 5.2-7.5. Common pests include leaf folders, stemfly, leaf blight, seedling rot, and frog eye leaf spot. Effective management includes crop rotation, resistant varieties, biological and chemical controls. Intercropping soybean with maize or rice can help control pests while systems like maize-soybean or maize-groundnut are suitable for the region. Yields of 2.0-2.5 t/
Soybean is a legume crop that is high in protein (40%) and oil (20%). It fixes nitrogen in the soil and has numerous uses for food and industry. Soybean grows best in warm, moist climates with loamy soil between pH 5.2-7.5. Common pests include leaf folders, stemfly, leaf blight, seedling rot, and frog eye leaf spot. Effective management includes crop rotation, resistant varieties, biological and chemical controls. Intercropping soybean with maize or rice can help control pests while systems like maize-soybean or maize-groundnut are suitable for the region. Yields of 2.0-2.5 t/
Soybean is a legume crop that is high in protein (40%) and oil (20%). It fixes nitrogen in the soil and has numerous uses for food and industry. Soybean grows best in warm, moist climates with loamy soil between pH 5.2-7.5. Common pests include leaf folders, stemfly, leaf blight, seedling rot, and frog eye leaf spot. Effective management includes crop rotation, resistant varieties, biological and chemical controls. Intercropping soybean with maize or rice can help control pests while systems like maize-soybean or maize-groundnut are suitable for the region. Yields of 2.0-2.5 t/
Soybean (Glycine Max L.) is a very high nutrition crop. It contains about 20 per cent oil and 40 per cent high quality protein (as against 7.0 % in rice, 12 % in wheat, 10 % in maize and 20-25 % in other pulses. Soybean rich in amino acid (Lycine 5%), which is not available in cereals. Soybean oil is used for manufacturing vanaspati ghee and several other industrial products. Soybean is also used for making high protein food for children. Soybean being leguminous crop builds up the soil through biological nitrogen fixation. It can be used as fodder, forage and can be made into hey, silage etc. Soybean being the richest, cheapest and easiest source of best quality proteins and fats and having a vast multiplicity of uses as food and industrial products is called a wonder crop.
Photo – Soybean crop
Soil and Climate
Well drained and fertile loamy soils are suitable for cultivation of soybean. Optimum pH requirement ranges from 5.2-7.5. In acid soils liming to be done to raise the pH. Water logging is injurious to the crop. Soybean grows well in warm and moist climate. Temperature of 26-30oC is optimum for cultivation of soybean. Variety The recommended varieties are JS-80-21,JS 335, JS-75-46, Bragg, JS (SH) 89 - 2 and PK - 472.
Among different cultivars, maximum yield was recorded with JS-80-21 under mid altitude. For high altitudes (1300-1900 msl), PK-71-21, DS 74-42 and PK-73-213 were found promising. The ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region has developed three promising breeding lines H 1, H 9 and H 10 which are resistant to frog eye leaf spot, a serious disease of soybean in the region.
Sowing Generally sowing is done during May/June at mid and low altitudes on the onset of monsoon. Seeds are sown at a depth of 3-5 cm at a spacing of 30-35 x 10-15 cm. A seed rate of 25 – 30 kg/ha would be sufficient for pure stand in flat lands. Spacing may be reduced in upper terraces where water retention is very low.
Fertilizer management Soybean, being leguminous crop does not require high dose of nitrogen. Apply 5-7 t/ha of well decomposed farmyard manure (FYM) about 15-20 days before sowing along with 150 kg rock phosphate. It is also advisable to apply 3-4 t vermicompost/ha along with @ 150 kg/ha rockphosphate. Green manuring crop like taprosia, crotolaria and sesbania should be applied @ 10 t/ha before 15-20 days sowing the crop.
Maximum soybean seed yield was recorded in FYM treatment under cropping system of Rice + soybean – toria and Rice + soybean – tomato. The average yield of soybean was recorded at 12.51 and 11.86 q/ha in Maize +soybean–groundnut and Maize + soybean –French-bean, cropping systems respectively.
Weed management The crop should be kept weed free up to 60 days after sowing (DAS). One mechanical (20 DAS) weeding and two hand weeding (30 and 50 DAS) are sufficient for higher seed yield. Mulching is also done with weed biomass such as eupatorium and Ambrosia @ 10 t/ha, which reduced the weed population and also add nutrient to the soil, ultimately improved the crop productivity.
Irrigation Soybean is grown during kharif season and due to high rainfall no irrigation is needed. However, water stress should be avoided during flowering and pod formation stage of the crop. Pest Management 1. Leaf folders (Nacoleia vulgalis and N. diemenalis) Symptom – The larva feed on the leafs by folding it either from the tip onwards or from midrib and webbing of the folded portion. Webbing of many leaves especially at the tip of the plant is very common. Although the pest may not be very severe in general but may cause up to 10-15% yield loss.
Management Cultural – Intercropping of soybean with maize or rice is the most effective way of keeping the pest below ETL. Biological – Release of beneficial insects such as Coccinella septumpunctata, C. transversalis, Cheilomenes sexmaculatus @ 2-3 per plant effectively manage the pest. Control measure – Foliar spray of entomopathogenic nematode Sternernema sp @5 million IJ/ha after 45 days of sowing is very effective. Neem oil (3%), NSKE (5%) can also be used for minimizing the pest population. Application of Derisome and neem oil 3ml / lit each) also effectively control the pest.
2. Soybean Stemfly (Ophiomyia phaseoli)
Symptoms – It is a serious pest of soybean in north eastern region and starts infesting from 15-20 days of sowing. Severe infestation may cause yield reduction up to 15-20%. Stemfly bores the emerging seedlings (or cotyledons) and lay eggs. Maggot travels the main stem and feed on the tissue. Adult emerge from the plant. Due to maggot feeding young plants wilt and die. Adult make several punctures and suck sap. Punctures are visible as yellow spots.
Management Cultural - Deep summer ploughing. Avoid pre monsoon sowing. Use optimum seed rate and plant spacing. Proper crop rotation with dissimilar crops should be followed. Remove and destroy the damaged plant parts
Control measure – Foliar spray of entomopathogenic nematode Sternernema sp
@5 million IJ/ha after 45 days of sowing is very effective. Neem oil (3%), NSKE (5%) can also be used for minimizing the pest population. Application of Derisome and neem oil 3ml / lit each) also effectively control the pest.
3. Leaf Blight (Pseudomonas syringae)
Symptoms - Water-soaked spots on leaves which gradually enlarge and become necrotic; yellow discoloration around the spots is typical characteristic; during severe infections plant a burned appearance; circular, sunken, red-brown lesion may be present on pods; pod lesions may ooze during humid conditions.
Management Cultural - Use disease free seeds, use of resistant varieties Control measures – Seed treatment with garlic-cinnamon-clove extract manages the bacterial infection.
4. Seedling rot (Rhizoctonia solani, Phytophthora sp and Pythium sp)
Symptoms - Damping-off (early death of emerging seedlings) due to red-brown lesions, caused by the fungus which girdle the stem. Most predominant when soil is very wet in first few weeks of sowing and in poorly drained soils.
Management Cultural – Sowing of good quality seed. Field to remain at optimum moisture and well drained in case of heavy rains. Crop rotation in problematic fields.
Control measures – Seed treatment with Trichoderma viride @10 gm/kg of seed. Application of Trichoderam viride in soil mixed with compost @4 kg/ha. Application of neem cake @ 250 kg/ ha is also beneficial.
5. Frog eye leaf spot (Cercospora sojina)
Symptoms - Small, gray, water-soaked spots on develop on leaves gradually turning to gray or brown spots surrounded by narrow, dark reddish-brown margins, spots are circular to angular in shape and vary in size from less than 1 to 5 mm. Spots may also occur on stems, pods, and seeds. Infection can occur at any stage of soybean development, but most often occurs during reproductive growth stages (from bloom to maturity). In severely infected plants, lesions may coalesce to form larger irregularly shaped spots. Leaves may get blight look and wither quickly before falling prematurely.
Management Cultural – Sowing of good quality seed. Field to remain at optimum moisture and well drained in case of heavy rains. Crop rotation in problematic fields.
Control measures – Seed treatment with Trichoderma viride @10 gm/kg of seed. Application of Trichoderam viride in soil mixed with compost @4 kg/ha. Application of neem cake @ 250 kg/ ha is also beneficial.
Cropping system Intercropping of soybean with maize (2:2) and rice (4:2) has been found promising. Experiments on cropping system conducted at ICAR farm of NEH region indicated that there is tremendous potential and scope for growing soybean in the region particularly during spring, pre-rabi and rabi season by adopting resource conservation technologies. The most suitable cropping systems found were maize + soybean 2:2 (kharif) - mustard (rabi) and maize + groundnut 1:2 (kharif) – mustard (rabi). It has also been noticed that resource conservation technologies, such as straw mulching play an important role by conserving moisture in rabi oilseed production under upland.
Harvesting Harvesting is done when the crop is fully mature. Seed are sundried and stored in a cool and dry place.
Yield Soybean seed yield ranges from 2.0 -2.5 t/ha under organic farming.
