Sicklepod (Senna obtusifolia) Control and Soybean (Glycine max) Response to Soybean Row Spacing and Population in Three Weed Management Systems1

Abstract

Studies were conducted with one glyphosate-resistant and three conventional soybean cultivars to determine the effects of reducing row spacing from 76 to 38 and 19 cm, in combination with increased soybean population and herbicide applications (single and sequential), on sicklepod control and soybean yield. ‘Hutcheson’ was the only cultivar, and only under adverse conditions (1998), for which the 19-cm rows provided greater sicklepod control than the 38-cm rows. It was only under optimum conditions (1997), and only with conventional cultivars and sequential herbicide applications, that the 19-cm–row yield of 3,350 kg/ha was 21% greater than the 38-cm–row yield in medium population (455,375 plants/ha), and 21 and 64% greater than the 19- and 76-cm–row yield in low populations (241,000 plants/ha), respectively. In 1998, the same treatment showed similar late-season sicklepod control (> 80%) and a yield of 1,890 kg/ha, with no difference between the 19- and the 38-cm rows; but the yields were 15 and 24% greater than the yield of the narrow (19 and 38 cm) and that of the 76-cm row in low populations, respectively. Low populations with sequential applications in narrow rows and in the 76-cm row showed similar late-season sicklepod control (59 to 70%) and yield in 1998; but in 1997, the narrow rows showed 18 and 32% greater late-season control and yield than the 76-cm row, respectively. In 1997 and 1998, for ‘Hartz 5088RR’ (glyphosate resistant) with medium population and narrow rows, the single and sequential applications provided similar late-season sicklepod control (> 80%) and yield, and at least 10 and 24% greater yield than the narrow and the 76-cm rows in low populations, respectively.Nomenclature: Glyphosate; sicklepod, Senna obtusifolia (L.) Irwin and Barnaby #3 CASOB; soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr.Additional index words: Chlorimuron, flumetsulam, glyphosate-resistant soybean, metolachlor, sequential herbicide applications.Abbreviations: MG, maturity group; POST, postemergence; PRE, preemergence; WAP, weeks after planting.