Adaptation of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) to the dry season of the tropics. II. Effects of genotype and environment on biomass and seed yield

Abstract

Eight soybean genotypes were sown at weekly intervals in three tropical dry season environments to examine genotypic and environmental effects on growth and seed yield per plant. In general, dry matter (DM) at maturity increased exponentially with crop duration and so was greater with later maturing genotypes and sowing dates where photothermal conditions slowed development. Across environments, thermal time provided a better description of DM accumulation than did crop duration, indicating direct effects of temperature on growth rates. Among genotypes, the relationship between seed yield and DM production was strongly linear, implying that under the wide spacings of the study, DM production was the main basis of genotypic differences in seed yield. Among environmental means, the relationship was both weaker and curvilinear, suggesting that environmental effects on vegetative growth were not necessarily reflected in seed yield. Further, where photothermal regime delayed flowering and maturity, vegetative growth was often excessive, and harvest index (HI) smaller. HI was also smaller where flowering coincided with cool night temperatures (< c. 14�C) and podset was reduced. Overall, HI was negatively correlated with crop duration. Responses are discussed in terms of the implications for soybean improvement for the tropical dry season.