Understand

ding and Increasin

I
ng Soybe
ean Yields
s
Ryan Van Roekel, Ph.D.1 and Larrry Purcell, P
Ph.D.2
Sum
mmary

Physsiologically, sooybean is consiidered to be soource limited.

This assumes that a soybean plannt has an inherrent ability to
consiistently make more yield (ssink) than the environment
wer abortion,
allow
ws. This is eviident by the prresence of flow
whicch still occurss at 20 to 500% even withh the highest
yieldding crops. Beccause of this, a soybean crop will adjust its
yieldd potential to m
match the grow
wing conditionns. Thus, seed
numbber (per acre) ddetermination ccan be simply viewed as the
crop setting as maany seeds as it can supportt. If the crop
produuces more phootosynthate (soource), it will pproduce more
yieldd (sink), and thhe amount off photosynthatee produced is
whatt determines yield potential.

A
An understandiing of the maain factors infl
fluencing grain
n
yyield in soybean can provid
de key insights for making
g
m
management deecisions to incrrease yield.
S
Seed number is determin
ned by the amount off
pphotosynthate produced bettween R1 and R5 that iss
allocated to the seeds, divided
d by the minim
mum amount off
pphotosynthate needed
n
to keep a single seed from
f
aborting.
S
Stresses or imp
provements in crop growth prior to flow-erring should no
ot have a signiificant impact on final yield,,
pprovided that >9
95% light interrception is achieved by R1.

Moree specifically, seed number determinatioon is closely

relateed to photosynnthate production from R1 (fi
first flower) to
R5 (bbeginning seed) (Van Roekkel et al., 20155). Whether a
pod iis set or the fllower is aborteed depends uppon if there is
sufficcient photosynnthate availablee to support thhe demand of
the ddeveloping pood and seeds. Good growinng conditions
durinng this timeeframe result in more pphotosynthate
produuction and morre pods will bee set.

S
Seed weight is determined by
y the seed grow
wth rate and thee
leength of the seed fill period.
S
Simplified, soybean yield is mainly determined
d
by
y
pphotosynthate production
p
from
m R1 to R5 an
nd the length off
thhe seed fill perriod.
M
Management practices
p
shou
uld focus on
n maximizing
g
pphotosynthate production
p
durring seed set to
o increase seed
d
nnumber and lim
miting stresses during seed filll to extend thee
seeed fill duratio
on and increasee seed weight.

The pphotosynthate demand of a ddeveloping seed is related to

that seeds growthh rate. Larger seeds usuallyy have higher
seed growth rates and higher pphotosyntheticc demands to
preveent seed abortiion. However, given equal pphotosynthetic
rates and reproducctive partitioniing, a large seeeded variety
can sstill produce thhe same amounnt of final graiin weight as a
smalller seeded variiety; it will jusst have fewer seeeds per acre.
This can be visuallized with Figgure 1: if the big block of
photoosynthate is tthe same sizee but the sm
mall block of
photoosynthate needded per seed iss bigger, you ccannot divide
the bbig block into as many smaall blocks to support seeds.
Simillarly, varietiess with more seeeds per pod ((more 4-bean
pods)) will have higgher photosynnthate requirem
ments per pod
and ooften have few
wer pods, but thhe final number of seeds per
acre is usually the ssame.

Intrroduction
Soyybean yields in
n the United Staates have increeased over timee
up tto an average of 48 bu/acre in 2015. Yet, soybean
s
yieldss
up to 160 bu/acree have been reeported in yield contests. In
n
ordeer to make sound manag
gement decisions that willl
conntinue to increease soybean yields, it is crucial
c
to firstt
undderstand the factors inv
volved with grain yield
d
deteermination in soybean.
s

Seeed Number Determination

D
n
Yieeld is determineed by the number of seeds peer acre and thee
finaal seed weight.. Of the two, seed
s
number has
h the greatestt
imppact on final so
oybean yield. Seed
S
number is a function off
the plants per acrre, pods per pllant, and seedss per pod. Thee
maxximum numberr of seeds per pod, or prevaleence of 4-bean
n
podds, is largely deetermined by genetics.
g
The number
n
of podss
per plant varies drastically
d
witth the numberr of plants perr
acree and plant to
o plant spacing
g. As such, it is difficult to
o
focuus on just one component off seed number, and it is betterr
to thhink of this yieeld componentt as the total nu
umber of seedss
or ppods per acre.

CR
ROP INSIGH
HTS
, SM, TM

VOL. 26 NO. 7

Figu
ure 1. Total seeed number is a function of tthe amount of
photoosynthate prodduction from R
R1 to R5 that iis allocated to
reprooductive grow
wth divided byy the minimum
m amount of
photoosynthate requuired by a seed..
1

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AGRONOMY SCIENCES

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oneer or their res
spective owners . 2016 PHII.

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neer brand prod
ducts are provide
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e which are part of the labeling a
and purchase doccuments.

Seeed Weight Deetermination

Priorr to flowering,, stresses do nnot have a largge impact on

final yield, provideed that the stresss did not seveerely stunt the
plantts. It is criticall to close the rows and havve >95% light
intercception by thhe beginning of flowering to maximize
photoosynthate prodduction. This will often reequire a row
spaciing <30 inchess.

Seeed weight is a function of th

he seed growtth rate and thee
lenggth of the seed
d fill period (F
Figure 2; Van Roekel et al.,,
2015). As stated before, the seeed growth ratte is related to
o
ontrolled and generally
g
stablee
seedd size. This is genetically co
throoughout seed fill.
f Favorable late-season tem
mperatures and
d
rainnfall can createe larger seed weight
w
by exten
nding the seed
d
fill duration, which
w
does not
n
impact seed
s
number.
Connversely, a seevere late-seasson drought or
o disease likee
suddden death syn
ndrome can teerminate the seeed fill period
d
prem
maturely and reduce seed size.

Earlyy planting and/

d/or warm sprinng temperaturees can induce
earlieer flowering annd extend the flowering periiod. Soybeans
initiaate flowering bbased upon thhe interaction of daylength
and hheat unit accum
mulation (Lawnn and James, 22011). Shorter
dayleengths hasten development. This can be oobserved with
reseaarch from soutthern Pennsylvvania in 2015 w
where shorter
dayleengths with bboth very earrly and very late planting
reducced the growinng degree units (GDUs) requuired to reach
R1 (T
Table 1).

Figure 2. Final seeed weight is a function of th

he rate of seed
d
grow
wth and the du
uration of the seeed fill period.

Graain Yield Deteermination

Whhen both equatiions for seed number
n
and seeed weight aree
com
mbined, seed grrowth rates can
n be removed to simplify thee
equuation. Also, th
he proportion of
o photosynthaate allocated to
o
reprroductive grow
wth is largely out
o of our conttrol and can bee
esseentially ignorred. As such
h, the major physiologicall
proccesses for deteermining final grain
g
yield in soybean
s
are thee
amoount of photossynthate produ
uced from R1 to R5 and thee
lenggth of the seed fill duration (F
Figure 3).

Parkeer et al. (20166) showed thatt soybean plannted on April

15th would begin flowering on June 4th, whhile May 11th
plantted soybean ddid not flowerr until June 330th after the
summ
mer solstice annd when days bbegin to shorteen (Figure 4).
Longger daylengths extend reprodductive developpment. This is
evideent by the longger R1 to R6 pperiod with eaarlier planting
(Tablle 1; Figure 4). Greater GDU and soolar radiation
accum
mulation from
m R1 to R6 havve the potentiaal to increase
photoosynthate prodduction and thuus, seed numbeer and yield.

Figure 3. The maain factors affeecting final yieeld in soybean

n
are the amount of
o photosynthaate produced from
fr
R1 to R5
5
andd the length of the
t seed fill du
uration.

Management Im
mplications
Whhile yield deterrmination in so
oybean can be reduced down
n
to thhis simple con
ncept, the facto
ors affecting crrop growth and
d
phootosynthate pro
oduction durin
ng these long
g reproductivee
periiods are extrem
mely complex. Maximizing yield dependss
upoon alleviating all stresses throughout th
he entirety off
reprroductive deveelopment.

Figu
ure 4. Daylengtths during the sspring and sum
mmer growing
seasoon for Pittsburrg, PA, (40.4 N) with exam
mple planting,
R1, aand R6 dates frrom Parker et aal. (2016).

Tab
ble 1. The duraation and GDU
U accumulation
n of vegetative and reproducttive growth perriods for soybeean maturities L
Late II to Mid
III ffrom Parker et al. (2016).
Planting Da
ate

Days
D
to R1

GDUss to R1

Days R
R1 to R6

GDUs R1 to R6

4/15/15
5/4/15
5/9/15
5/11/15
6/11/15
7/7/15

50
41
40
41
34
28

768
805
821
861
851
759

552
445
338
337
228
226

1198
1032
8859
8836
8836
6609

Fulll season varrieties can haave longer vegetative

v
and
d
reprroductive perio
ods and often have greater yield potentiall
wheen planted early compared to short season varieties.
v
In thee
Midd-South, short season varietiies can be plaanted too early
y
andd have later op
ptimum plantin
ng dates comp
pared to fullerr
seasson varieties (P
Poston and Jesschke, 2015; Salmern
S
et al.,,
2016). Further no
orth, short season varieties can
c be planted
d
lateer with less associated yield loss (Nafziger
(
and
d
Vosssenkemper, 20
015). In both scenarios, plantting full season
n
variieties first will maximize yielld potential.

Refeerences

Afteer planting, grrowing conditiions throughou

ut reproductivee
devvelopment will have the greaatest influence on final yield.
Botth too much and not enough water can have a largee
imppact on photosy
ynthesis and crop growth. Feertility and pH
H
musst also allow for
f optimal cro
op growth ratees. This should
d
be managed acccording to so
oil and plantt analyses in
n
conj
njunction with
h the yield goal and caalculated crop
p
dem
mands.

Nafzziger, E. and J. Vossenkempper. 2015. Soybbean planting

date and varietal maturity intteract to deteermine yield.
Agroonomy Sciencces Research Update, DuP
Pont Pioneer,
John ston, IA.

Whhile weed con

ntrol is imporrtant, herbicid
de applicationss
duriing reproductiive growth sho
ould be avoid
ded due to thee
poteential for reduced photosyn
nthate producttion and seed
d
num
mber. This is especially
e
true if the herbicid
de causes plantt
injuury (Kyle, 201
14). In-season management of insects and
d
diseeases are also crucial
c
to limitt their impact on
o crop growth
h
andd yield.

M. Jeschke. 22015. Optimizzing soybean

Postoon, D. and M
matuurity group byy planting datte interactionss in northern
Kenttucky. Field F
Facts Vol. 15, No. 1. DuP
Pont Pioneer,
John ston, IA.

Kylee, D. 2014. Efffect of Cobraa herbicide aapplication on

soyb ean yield in the absence of white moold or weed
presssure. Agronom
my Sciences Research Upddate, DuPont
Pioneeer, Johnston, IA.
Lawnn, R.J. and A.T. Jamess. 2011. Appplication of
physiiological undeerstanding in soybean impprovement. I.
Undeerstanding pheenological connstraints to addaptation and
yieldd potential. Croop and Pasture Sci. 62:1-11.

Parkeer, A, K. Fry and K. Reese.. 2016. Plantinng date effect

on ssoybean reprooductive duraation. Agronom
my Sciences
Reseearch Update, D
DuPont Pioneeer, Johnston, IA
A.

Salm
mern, M., E.E.. Gbur, F.M. B
Bourland, N.W.. Buehring, L.
Earn est, F.B. Fritscchi, B.R. Goldden, D. Hathcooat, J. Lofton,
T.D. Miller, C. N
Neely, G. Shannnon, T.K. Uddeigwe, D.A.
Verbbree, E.D. Voriies, W.J. Wiebold, and L.C. P
Purcell. 2016.
Yieldd response to planting datee among soybbean maturity
groupps for irrigateed production in the US Miidsouth. Crop
Sci. 556:747-759.
Van Roekel, R.J.,, L.C. Purcelll and M. Salm
mern. 2015.
Physsiological andd managemennt factors conntributing to
soyb ean potential yyield. Field Croops Res. 182:86-97.

All of the aforem

mentioned pracctices and any others should
d
focuus on achieving optimal grrowing condittions from R1
1
throough R7 to maximize
m
photo
osynthate prod
duction during
g
seedd set and to lengthen the seed fill perio
od in order to
o
maxximize yield.

Fieldd Agronomist, DuP

Pont Pioneer

Profe
fessor, University oof Arkansas

The forregoing is provided ffor informational usee only. Please contactt your Pioneer sales
professsional for informatiion and suggestionss specific to your operation. Product
perform
mance is variable andd depends on many ffactors such as moistture and heat stress,
soil typpe, management pracctices and environm
mental stress as well as disease and pest
pressurres. Individual resultss may vary.

Connclusions
This physiologicaal framework for
f grain yield determination
n
in ssoybean provid
des a guide forr understandin
ng the effect off
mannagement practtices and grow
wing conditionss on final yield.
Streesses or gains in
i crop growth
h prior to R1 arre not likely to
o
havve a large imp
pact on final yield
y
as long as
a full canopy
y
clossure occurs by flowerring. Factorss influencing
g
phootosynthate pro
oduction during the period from
f
R1 to R5
5
willl have a signiificant impactt on final seed
d number and
d
yielld. The followiing seed fill period from R6 to
t R7 will havee
a m
major impact on
o seed weigh
ht, which will also influencee
yielld. This underrstanding of how
h
yield is determined in
n
soyb
ybean is the crucial
c
first sttep in making
g managementt
decisions for sustaainable yield in
ncreases over time.