Influence of Induced Lodging on Pod Distribution and Seed Yield in Soybeans1

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Abstract
Lodging occurs frequently in soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] and has been shown to reduce yields of indeterminate cultivars under most conditions: Information is limited on effects of lodging on determinate cultivars, types commonly grown in the southern U. S. Influence of lodging on pod distribution and seed yield was measured during a 2‐year study in the field on ‘Forrest’, a determinate cultivar and ‘R74‐334’, a semideterminate strain, at three stages of growth. Growth of the semideterminate strain in Arkansas resembled that of indeterminate cultivars grown in the Midwest. Plants were lodged at 0°, 45°, and 90° angles from the vertical at a vegetative stage (V8) and two reproductive stages (R2 and R4).A significant yield reduction was obtained from induced lodging at full pod (R4) but none at the vegetative (V8) or full bloom (R2) stage of development. The determinate cultivar and semideterminate strain were affected similarly by the lodging treatments. Lodging resulted in an increase in percentage of pods on lateral branches at stages V8 and R2 but no change was noted at R4. Number of seeds per pod was not affected by plant lodging. Lodging affected the number of seeds per plant more than seed size. Decrease in seed yield, therefore, was primarily due to reduction in number of seeds produced on lodged plants.
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