1.

INTRODUCTION

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] is a leguminous crop of the Leguminaceae

family, subfamily Papillonaceae (Fabaceae), and genus Glycine. Soybean is also
known as the "wonder crop," "yellow jewel," "miracle bean," "golden bean," "flesh of
the field," "gold of the land," and "oriental pearl." It is a nutritious food that contains the
richest and cheapest source of vegetable protein (40 per cent) and oil (20 per cent), is
well balanced in essential amino acids, rich in polyunsaturated fats, particularly Omega
6 and Omega 5 fatty acids, contains 6 to 7 total minerals, 5 to 6% crude fibre, and 17 to
19% carbohydrates (Chauhan and Joshi, 2005). Soybean is the richest, cheapest and
easiest source of best quality protein and fat. Hence, it is called as vegetarian meat and
wonder crop.
Soybean is one of the most important crop worldwide because it’s protein
contain and vegetable oil. Soybean has established itself as an industrially important and
economically viable oilseed crop in various parts of India. Because of its high
nutritional quality, big yields, short growing season (90-110 days), low water use, and
capacity to improve soil fertility and productivity through symbiotic nitrogen fixation,
soybean farming has a lot of potential. As a result, it has earned the moniker "Soil
Gold."
This crop can be cultivated in both the kharif and the rabi/summer seasons. In
the summer, the 15th of February and the 15th of March are the most popular sowing
dates. Where there is a sufficient supply of irrigation infrastructure. Over the previous
three decades, India has made great agricultural progress, reaching cereal self-
sufficiency and making significant efforts to enhance pulse and oilseed crop production
and productivity. Harvests of oilseeds have long been the lifeblood of the country's
economy. Soybean is referred to be the twenty-first century's "Golden Bean."
Soybeans are very adaptable to a variety of soils and temperatures. Soybeans
grow best at temperatures between 26°C and 30°C; if the temperature drops below
10°C, the crop will not grow, and if the temperature goes beyond 40°C, growth,
blooming, and seed formation will be affected. With short days, it is a photoperiod-
sensitive plant. The optimum soil is sandy loam with high organic manure content. Its
growth is best suited to soils with a pH of 7.0 and a considerable amount of water
retention capability.
 It is originated from China and presently cultivated in different countries
including USA, China, Brazil, Argentina and India etc. (Anonymous, 2020a). Globally,
soybean has ranked first amongst various oilseed crops, contributing approximately
25% to the world’s total oil and fat production.In India the major soybean growing
states are Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and
Chhattisgarh. In India soybean is grown on area of 118.38 million hectare with
production of 104.55 million tons (Anonymous., 2020b). Whereas, in India, soybean
occupies an area of 11.33 million ha with production potential of 10.93 million metric
tons and productivity of 0.96 metric tons/ ha during 2019-20 (Anonymous, 2021a) in
India, In Gujarat cultivated soybean is grown on area of 1.49 million hectare with
production of 2.08 million tons and productivity of soybean 1400.39 kg/ha
(Anonymous., 2020c). The average annual productivity of soybean during 2019-20 was
1,052 kg/ha, Maharashtra share 40 percent in total national production of soybean. After
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra ranks second in terms of area and production of soybean
in the country.
The soybean responses well to irrigation though it is drought resistance crop.
In irrigated soybean biomass, grain yield and yield components significantly increased
(Sincik et al., 2008). The quality of soybean is also differed under irrigated and water
stress condition. The highest yield with the highest grain protein could be achieved
under well-watered conditions. Under a high- water deficit, only moderate protein
content can be obtained, but yield reduces significantly (Foroud et al., 1993).
Soybean is very sensitive to water stress at some critical growth stages, such as
flowering, pod development or pod filling etc. At these times, water stress will reduce
the yield slightly or dramatically. As a result, when there is a lack of irrigation water or
there is a water shortage, the crucial growth stages strategy is critical. Water stress at the
flowering, pod filling, or development stages was found to be more damaging to crop
yields in trials conducted at various sites, particularly at the pod filling stage (Tuteja et
al., 1993)
The time of irrigation also matters in yield and quality of soybean being a short
duration crop. The non-irrigated plants or plants droughted at vegetative or flowering
stages produce fewer grain pods and grain. Grain protein and oil content increases when
droughted during the pod filling stage (Demirtas et al., 2010). Yields from a single
irrigation (2.5 cm) is averaged approximately 20 per cent more than yield with no
irrigation. Irrigation at full pod increases grain per plant and weight per seed (Daniel
and Granade, 2002).
Irrigation scheduling provides information not only about water needs of the
crop but also proper time for its application. Irrigation schedules are greatly influenced
by the prevailing atmospheric demand. The irrigation is being scheduled on basis of
irrigation water (lW) and cumulative pan evaporation (CPE) ratio. ( Parihar et al. 1974)
also suggested a climatological approach based on the ratio of a fixed amount of
irrigation water (IW) to cumulative pan evaporation (CPE).
The use of fertilizer is considered to be one of the most important factors to
increase crop yield. Fertilizers are important for proper growth and development of
plant. Specially, NPK fertilizers, muriate of potash (MOP), and supper phosphates
(Taylor, 1997).
Most compound fertilizers will contain three elements essential for plant
growth: NPK which stands for nitrogen (promotes leaf growth), phosphorus (root,
flower, and fruit), and potassium (stem and root growth and protein analysis). Nitrogen
is a chlorophyll component, and it promotes vegetative growth and green coloration of
foliage. Phosphorus plays a major role in photosynthesis, respiration, energy storage,
cell division, and maturation. Potassium is important in plant metabolism, protein
synthesis, and chlorophyll development.
Nitrogen is an integral component of many compounds, including chlorophyll
and enzymes, essential for plant growth processes. It is an essential component of amino
acids and related proteins. Nitrogen is essential for carbohydrate use within plants and
stimulates root growth and development as well as the uptake of other nutrients. This
element encourages above ground vegetative growth and gives a deep green color to the
leaves (Brady, 1990). It is recognized that nitrogen is one of the key elements of soil
fertility. Most of the developed countries are harvesting high yields and maintaining the
soil nitrogen level by the application of chemical nitrogenous fertilizer. Soybean, being
a leguminous crop, is capable to fix atmospheric nitrogen through symbiosis. However,
several studies have shown that the symbiotic N-fixation is not able to meet high N-
fixation is not able to meet high N-requirement of this crop particularly under the N-
deficient conditions.Yao et al. (2009) reported that grain yields of soybean was affected
by N levels, yields of low - N level and mid - N level treatments did not reach the
significantly different levels, but they were obviously higher than that of high – N
treatment.
 Phosphorus deficiency is probably one of the greatest constraints for
agriculture. Plants require phosphorus for growth throughout their life cycle, especially
during the early stages of growth and development. In soybeans, the demand for P is the
greatest during pod and seed development where more than 60% of P ends up in the
pods and seeds (Usherwood, 1998). Its uptake and utilization by soybean is essential for
ensuring proper nodule formation and improving yield and quality of the crop
(Anonymous, 2004). Very high soil phosphate depressed seed protein and oil content,
while yield would be low if available phosphorus was less than 30 kg P/ ha (DAFF,
2010). The most important phosphorus sources in arable soils are chemical fertilizers,
though 75 to 90 percent of the phosphorus is fixed with iron, calcium and aluminums in
soil (Turan et al., 2006). Therefore, the use of phosphate solubilizing bacteria is
essential to solve the problem. It has been proven that P increases weight and number of
root nodules and also can enhance the pod yield (Jones et al., 1977). Different reports
revealed that the increase in soybean yield could not be expected when soil P
concentration prevailed above 20 mg/ kg (Webb et al., 1992).
Potassium often limits production and needs to be included in a soil fertility
program; potassium should be included as corrective nutrient. Increases in soybean
yield were obtained in response to K fertilization. Potassium (K) has also an important
role in regulating the water loss of plants thus help to prevent plant from necrosis. It
serves as an activator of enzymes used in photosynthesis and respiration, helps to build
cellulose and aids in photosynthesis by the formation of a chlorophyll precursor and
finally results in quality fruits (Nziguheba et al., 1998). The relatively large amounts of
K is required for high yielding soybean. Soybean has been found to respond to various
level of K under different agroclimatic-situations (Silva and Bohnen, 1991). The
deficiency of K at any time during the growing season of soybean reduced its pod
yields; whereas, application of K fertilizers increased the number of nodules, and weight
of nodules, and the number of pods plant-1 (Jhones et al., 1977)
With these considerations in view, the field trial on " Effect of irrigation and
fertility levels on growth, yield and quality of summer Soybean [Glycine max (L.)
Merrill] variety GJS-3 during Summer season conducted at of Instructional Farm,
Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University,
Junagadh during summer season of 2021. with the following objectives.
1. To study the effect of different irrigation and fertility levels on growth,
yield and quality of summer soybean.
2. To determine the water use efficiency of soybean as influenced by different
irrigation and fertility level.
3. To determination of moisture content in soil.
4. To work out the economically viable treatments of different irrigation and fertility
level.