Aerial dry matter and nutrient accumulation comparisons among five soybean experiments

Abstract

Abstract Efficient and environmentally acceptable nutrient management requires an understanding of when and at what rates nutrients are accumulated by plants. For graminaceous species, a mathematical procedure involving compound cubic polynomials was previously demonstrated to be useful for evaluating growth and nutrient accumulation patterns. Our objective for this study was to compare dry matter and nutrient accumulation rates for determinate and indeterminate soybean [Glycine max L. (Merr.)] by reanalyzing the original data from five field experiments. Data from a maximum yield research (MYR) experiment that yielded 6.8 Mg ha‐1 provided information for soybean grown with near‐maximum accumulation rates. The high MYR yield resulted from intensive management practices that included high fertilization, high plant population, complete pest control, and timely irrigations to supplement rainfall. The MYR results were compared with rates determined for four non‐MYR studies that yielded from 2.2 to 5.4 Mg ha‐1...