Growth and yield response of early and medium maturity soybean (glycine max (l) merrill) varieties to row spacing
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Date
2011
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Abstract
An experiment to investigate the effect of different row spacings on the growth and yield of three soybean varieties Ahoto, Anidaso and Nangbaar was conducted at the Plantation Crop Section of the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in 2008 and 2009.
The experimental design was a split plot, arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The varieties were the main plots and row spacing, the subplots. Data collected were plant height, number of primary branches, shoot dry matter, leaf area index, crop growth rate, nodule count, nodule dry weight and effectiveness, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, 100 seed weight, grain yield per hectare and percentage pod shattering. The data were analysed using ANOVA and means separated by LSD (P<0.05) using MSTAT-C.
The results showed significant (P<0.05) differences due to varieties for number of primary branches, leaf area index, number of pods per plant and grain yield (ton ha-1). Row spacing effects were significant (P<0.05) on plant height (cm), leaf area index, number of leaves, dry matter yield kg ha-1 and grain yield (ton ha-1). Correlation analysis showed significant positive correlation between number of pods per plant and grain yield (r = 0.597).
Under the conditions of this study, the Ahoto variety was the best in terms of grain yield, 3.15 ton ha-1, and the row spacing of 40×5 cm resulted in the highest grain yield, 2.46 ton ha-1. Among the three varieties, therefore, Ahoto would give the highest grain yield to producers, and the spacing recommended to soybean farmers is 40×5 cm.
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A Thesis submitted to the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. This is in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Masters of Science Degree in Agronomy