Assessing the Effects of Agronomic Management Practices on Soybean (Glycine max L.) Post-Grain Harvest Residue Quality in the Lower Mississippi Delta

Srinivasa R Pinnamaneni,Saseendran S Anapalli

doi:10.3390/plants10071337

Abstract

Livestock producers often resort to either baling or grazing of crop residues due to high hay prices and reduced supply of other forages and silage in the markets. Soil-water-crop management practices can affect residue nutrient qualities for its use as cattle feedstock. A two-year study (2018–2019) was conducted to investigate the effects of irrigation (AI, all row-irrigation; ARI, alternate row irrigation; and RF, rainfed) and planting pattern, PP (SR, single row; and TR, twin-row) on soybean (maturity group IV cv. 31RY45 Dyna-Gro) post-grain harvest residue quality such as crude protein (CP), acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), net energy for maintenance (NEM), net energy for gain (NEG), net energy for lactation (NEL), total digestible nutrients (TDN), and relative feed value (RFV). Irrigation has a significant effect on CP, ADF, NDF, and TDN while PP affected only NDF. All the above parameters were significantly affected except NEM by the contrasting climate conditions, particularly during July through August coinciding with early crop reproductive stages and maturity. The RFV values ranged from 70.4 to 81.6 and this lower range was attributable to nutrient translocation to seeds and higher lignification during plant senescence towards the grain filling stage of the crop as good quality hay records over 120 RFV. These results indicate that both irrigation and weather during soybean seed development can alter post-grain harvest residue quality parameters, thereby playing critical roles in its RFV.

Highlights

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] is an important short-duration grain and forage crop for human consumption and livestock feeding in the Leguminosae family
The main plots were three irrigation regimes (i) AI, (ii) ARI, and (iii) RF, while the subplots consisted of two planting patterns (PP): (i) SR, seeds planted on seedbeds in single rows spaced at 102 cm apart, and (ii) TR, in which two rows spaced at 25-cm apart substituted the single-row of SR and the planters were set to achieve a plant population density of approximately 336,000 plants ha−1
In 2018, a total of 220 mm of irrigation was applied through a flow meter (Mc Propeller flowmeter, McCrometer Inc, CA, USA) in the AI plots in four irrigation events of 55 mm each applied through every furrow on 15 May, 20 June, 6 July, and 3 August, while the ARI plots received about 50% of water per row on the same dates but in every other furrow, amounting to total water applied of about 115 mm against 220 mm in the FI

Summary

Introduction

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] is an important short-duration grain and forage crop for human consumption and livestock feeding in the Leguminosae family It has a long history of use as a primary forage crop in the United States, owing to its high-quality proteinaceous hay [1]. The post-grain harvest residue of soybean could be an excellent cattle-feed alternative through the summer months if handled appropriately and may accrue additional income for the farmers. In this direction, it was reported, some livestock producers mix the shredded soybean residue with distiller’s grain for feeding livestock or use it as roughage [2]. Some livestock producers in the North-central and North-eastern USA were reported ensiling soybean due to the high cost of perennial hay such as alfalfa and red clover [4]

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