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Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (15): 23-31.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb2024-0652

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Effect of Sowing Date on Field Agronomic Traits and Yield of Spring-sown Soybeans

LIU Li1,2(), DU Xiaoyu1(), PU Chunlei1, LUO Youming1, FU Yong1, ZENG Zhaoqiong3, JIANG Jiefeng4   

  1. 1 Agricultural Technique Promotion Station of Nanchong, Nanchong, Sichuan 637000
    2 Seed Administrative Station of Nanchong, Nanchong, Sichuan 637000
    3 Nanchong Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Nanchong, Sichuan 637000
    4 Gaoping Meteorological Bureau, Nanchong, Sichuan 637000
  • Received:2024-10-30 Revised:2025-02-15 Online:2025-05-25 Published:2025-05-29

Abstract:

To investigate the effects of different sowing dates on field agronomic traits and yield formation of spring-sown soybeans, 'Nandou 50', 'Zhonghuang 39', and 'Zhongdou 54' were selected as experimental materials. A field experiment with two-factor split-plot design was conducted to analyze the impacts of 12 sowing dates on growth stages, agronomic traits, and yield of the three spring-sown soybean varieties. The results demonstrated that the durations of vegetative, reproductive, and whole growth period all showed decreasing trends with the sowing date delayed, and the effect of sowing date on vegetative growth period was significantly greater than that on reproductive growth period. Plant height initially increased and then gradually decreased, while the height of the bottom pod generally exhibited a pattern of initial increase, followed by decrease, and subsequent rise. The effects of sowing date on soybean yield and its components, including the number of effective pods per plant, 100-seed weight, grains per plant, grain weight per plant, all increased first and then decreased, and the grain weight and grain number per plant contributed the most to yield, accounting for 30% and 28% respectively. Among all treatments, soybeans sown on March 21 and March 28 demonstrated optimal yield performance, with the yield of 'Nandou 50' achieving 3244.57 kg/hm2 and 3087.92 kg/hm2, 'Zhonghuang 39' reaching 3270.62 kg/hm2 and 3330.43 kg/hm2, 'Zhongdou 54' producing 3199.55 kg/hm2 and 2983.79 kg/hm2, respectively. Comprehensive analysis of all performance indicators revealed that the optimal sowing window for spring soybean in Sichuan hilly areas is late March, and yield would be significantly reduced when sowing date was delayed beyond April 25.

Key words: spring-sown, soybeans, sowing date, plant height, height of the bottom pod, agronomic traits, yield, growth stages