• By Rachel Vann, Jim Dunphy, Lindsey Thiessen, and Michael Buffaloe •
Various non-foliar yield enhancement products are available to North Carolina soybean producers. Profit margins are currently narrow for soybeans and much thought should go into the potential yield advantages and associated costs from the use of these various non- foliar yield enhancement products.
Our goal at North Carolina State University is to provide unbiased data on the impact of these products on soybean yield in diverse environments across the state. The NC State Soybean Extension program has been conducting non-foliar yield enhancement trials for the past five years from 2014-2018 in diverse environments across the state.
Over the years, we have been able to identify some trends, which will be discussed throughout this publication.
The researchers looked at fungicidal seed treatments, insecticidal seed treatments, biological stimulants, inoculants and in-furrow fungicides.
Download the complete trial results.
Over the years, the non-foliar yield enhancement products evaluated in this program have provided modest soybean yield increases, if any. Our evaluation of these products across 15 environments is context specific to late-May through early July planting.
Many of these products are relatively inexpensive; growers must decide if the modest increases in soybean yield observed with some of these products coupled with the risk of resistance development would justify investment.
Dr. Rachel Vann, Soybean Extension specialist in the Crop and Soil Sciences Department at NC State University, can be reached at rachel_vann@ncsu.edu.
North Carolina State University contributed this article.