Soybean Production In Brazil Research Articles

SOURGRASS INTERFERENCE ON SOYBEAN GROWN IN BRAZILIAN CERRADO

ABSTRACT Sourgrass (Digitaria insularis) is one of the main species causing significant losses in Brazilian soybean production systems. Thus, this paper aimed to evaluate sourgrass interference on soybeans grown under Cerrado conditions. Three field experiments were conducted, of which the first two (E1 and E2) simulated sourgrass after pre-sowing burndown, using plants already emerged by the time soybeans were sown; whereas the third (E3) simulated both sourgrass and soybeans emerged simultaneously. Both E1 and E2 were conducted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with five treatments based on sourgrass infestation densities (0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 plants m-2) and four replications. In turn, E3 was also carried out in an RCBD but with treatments arranged in a 2 x 5 factorial and four replications. The first factor comprised two soybean cultivars, while the second was sourgrass density levels, just as in E1 and E2. The results showed that increasing sourgrass densities reduced soybean yield regardless of the plant growth stage when the crop was sown. Yield losses were higher when sourgrass plants were already established by the time soybean was sown. Soybean yield losses reached up to 80% under higher sourgrass infestation levels.

CONTRIBUTION OF THE ADDITIVE GENETIC EFFECTS IN SOYBEAN BREEDING AIMING AT THE AGRONOMIC IDEOTYPE

The development of new genotypes and their availability to the agricultural market is decisive for the success of the Brazilian soybean production chain. This study aimed to estimate the components of variance and genetic parameters of aspects of agronomic importance and to predict the selection of transgressive soybean populations and families based on the agronomic ideotype. The segregating families were conducted in an enlarged block design, composed of 285 F3 segregating families corresponding to the unusual treatments, and together with seven commercial cultivars assigned as common treatments, arranged in four replications. The characters of agronomic interest were measured the first pod insertion height, plant height, number of pods on the main stem, number of pods on the branches, pods containing only one seed, pods containing two seeds, pods containing three seeds, pods containing four seeds and seed mass. Were estimated additive genetic variance, genetic variance of the F3 segregating families, genetic variance of F2 segregating population, residual variance, phenotypic variance, narrow sense heritability, coefficient of determination for the effects of the F3 segregating family, coefficient of determination for the effects of the progeny, genetic variation coefficient, residual variation coefficient and predicted genetic ranking for the best F2 segregating populations and F3 segregating families. The pronounced additive genetic gains in the progeny showed higher values for the characters measured: first pod insertion height with 1.84%, for the family and population, the additivity presented the highest values for the number of pods with four grains. The selection of the progenies through the agronomic ideotype based on the greatest genetic gains of the morphological characters weighted by the largest seed mass will thus lead these populations to joint selection for the other yield components.

Using the available indicators of potential biodiversity damage for Life Cycle Assessment on soybean crop according to Brazilian ecoregions

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the use of and suggest possible adjustments to indicators of biodiversity loss for LCA proposed by Chaudhary and Books (2018). For this, we analyzed soybean production in Brazil. Potential damage to biodiversity has been determined for all Brazilian ecoregions: the Amazon; the Atlantic forest; Caatinga; Cerrado; Pampas; and the Pantanal. Two dimensions of assessment were considered – global and regional – in addition to Average-country. An adjustment was proposed for the vulnerability coefficient to the indicators Average-country Brazil: the Regional Species Fragility Index (FI). Two inventories were created using two different functional units: area of production of soybean by ecoregion (year m2); and area corresponding to production of 1 kg of soybean (year m2). Thus, we observed that when the indicators of aggregate values were adopted, the Atlantic Forest was the ecoregion most affected by the crop. Regarding the assessments of the Potential Biodiversity Damage (BD) Global and Regional indicators, the Atlantic Forest and the Amazon were the ecoregions that suffered the highest impacts, mainly on plants, birds and amphibians taxa. Besides, the impacts at the global level were always more expressive than the regional ones. Due to this, we noticed that the results were influenced by the Vulnerability Score (VS). The suitability of the VS for FI is relevant and the adjustment in the equation can be suggested for other regions. Considering the results found here, to prevent regional impacts, technical measures such as extensive farming and crop rotation should be prioritized as impact mitigation actions. However, political measures tend to be more effective at geographic levels when addressing more than one ecoregion, due to the standardization of preservation procedures. Thus, from the results reported here, we conclude that the FI is relevant to diagnose measures at the administrative geographic levels of the ecoregions present in a single country, and the applied indicators reinforce that the Atlantic Forest ecoregion is the most vulnerable due to the replacement of wild forest for cultivated areas, which includes soybean crops.

Climate risk of Asian soybean rust occurrence in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

One of the greatest challenges for the sustainability of soybean production in Brazil is the control of Asian soybean rust (ASR). This study aimed to assess the climate risk of ASR occurrence throughout the period recommended for sowing in four locations of Rio Grande do Sul, considering different soybean relative maturity groups and the phases of the El Nino–Southern Oscillation phenomenon. The soybean development cycle and the climate favorability for ASR occurrence were simulated for the recommended sowing dates in the period from 1961 to 2020 in four locations of Rio Grande do Sul. Early cultivars, sown at the beginning of the period recommended by Agricultural Zoning of Climate Risk, usually exhibit less favorable climate conditions for ASR occurrence and less interannual variability in their cycle. The effect of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation phenomenon varies across the studied locations, with the prevalence of more favorable conditions for ASR occurrence during El Nino years. However, neutral years show greater interannual variability for the risk of ASR occurrence.

Double cropping and cropland expansion boost grain production in Brazil.

Brazilian grain production increased more than fourfold from 1980 to 2016. The grain boom was achieved primarily by soybean-corn double cropping and cropland expansion-both show changing spatiotemporal patterns since the 1980s. Here, we quantified the contributions of these two strategies to corn and soybean production in Brazil using municipality-level data from 1980 to 2016. We found the contribution of double cropping to the grain boom steadily increased to 35% and the largest driving force was the increasing demand for grain export. While double cropping dominated the conventional agricultural regions, cropland expansion was still the major strategy in agricultural frontiers such as the Centre-West and Matopiba. The implementation of double cropping offset the equivalent of 76.7 million ha of Brazilian arable land for grain production from 2003 to 2016. Double cropping in Brazil has the potential to help alleviate land burdens in other pantropical countries with increasing global food demand.

Cascade Effect of Nitrogen on Brazilian Soybean Production Chain

Soybean is one of the most traded products. Naturally, soy fixes nitrogen through biological symbiosis. Its cultivation transforms natural inert atomic nitrogen into its reactive forms. The advancement of soybean can have environmental impacts, both locally and globally. This study estimated nitrogen flows and their use efficiency in the Brazilian soybean production chain applying material flow analysis. We innovate proposing a new indicator to estimate the “cascade effect of nitrogen” in a framework of 12 years (2007 to 2019). We hypothesized that it is capable to show accumulated nitrogen emissions through the chain. Besides, the method can show the main sources of nitrogen to the environment. The biological fixation was the largest entry. The efficiency in the use of nitrogen was 81% for grain production, and the nitrogen cascade indicator, which represents the ratio of the nitrogen emission in the environment to the total nitrogen available in the product, was only 5.2% in the soybean meal production chain for the year of 2019, with a clear trend of increasing during the period. Thus, Brazil contributes significantly to global nitrogen emissions in the environment since the country is an important producer and player in the world market.

Autoregressive vectors model in the analysis of the determinants of soybean production in Brazil

The general objective of this work was to identify what were the determinants of soybean production increase in Brazil, between 1980 and 2015. This work uses the Self-Regressive Vector (VAR) methodology for the estimation of empirical models. Allow the obtaining of evidence capable of clarifying the question about the determinant factors of the soybean productivity in this period. They pointed evidences of a greater relation between the soybean productivity increase and the physicochemical innovations. In addition, as the data reveal, there is idle capacity to expand soybean production, as well as increased productivity for the coming years. The empirical analysis suggests that, in fact, soybean productivity in Brazil is increasing, as occurred in the forecast test performed in this study.

Fitness Cost of Imazamox Resistance in Wild Poinsettia (Euphorbia heterophylla L.)

Wild poinsettia (Euphorbia heterophylla L.) is a difficult-to-control weed in soybean production in Brazil that has developed resistance to herbicides, including acetolactate synthase inhibitors. We investigated the potential fitness cost associated to the Ser-653-Asn mutation that confers imazamox resistance in this weed. Plant height, leaf and stem dry weight, leaf area and seed production per plant as well as the growth indices of specific leaf area, leaf area ratio, relative growth rate and net assimilation in F2 homozygous resistant (R) and susceptible (S) wild poinsettia progenies were pairwise compared. S plants were superior in most of the traits studied. Plant heights for S and R biotypes, recorded at 95 days after planting (DAP), were 137 and 120 cm, respectively. Leaf areas were 742 and 1048 cm2 in the R and S biotypes, respectively. The dry weights of leaves and stems in the S plants were 30 and 35%, respectively, higher than in the R plants. In both biotypes, the leaves had a greater share in dry weight at early development stages, but from 50 DAP, the stem became the main contributor to the dry weight of the shoots. The R biotype produced 110 ± 4 seed plant−1, i.e., 12 ± 3% less seeds per plant than that of the S one (125 ± 7 seed plant−1). The growth indices leaf area ratio and specific leaf area were generally higher in the S biotype or similar between both biotypes; while the relative growth rate and net assimilation rate were punctually superior in the R biotype. These results demonstrate that the Ser-653-Asn mutation imposed a fitness cost in imazamox R wild poinsettia.

THE GROWTH OF THE SOYBEAN FRONTIER IN SOUTH AMERICA: THE CASE OF BRAZIL AND ARGENTINA

ABSTRACTIn the past 50 years, South America has emerged as the dominant world producer of soybeans, a crop of no significance in the region before the middle of the 20th century. As of the crop year 2019/2020, Brazil and Argentina produced 176 million tons which is over half of all world production and these two countries alone will also account for 57 per cent of all Soybeans exported in international trade. How this new agricultural product evolved in these two principal regional producers is the aim of this study. Here we attempt to examine the historical evolution of soybean production in Brazil and Argentina and try to show the unique patterns of production in each of the two crucial states.

Time Series Prediction with Artificial Neural Networks: An Analysis Using Brazilian Soybean Production

Food production to meet human demand has been a challenge to society. Nowadays, one of the main sources of feeding is soybean. Considering agriculture food crops, soybean is sixth by production volume and the fourth by both production area and economic value. The grain can be used directly to human consumption, but it is highly used as a source of protein for animal production that corresponds 75% of the total, or as oil and derived food products. Brazil and the US are the most important players responsible for more than 70% of world production. Therefore, a reliable forecasting is essential for decision-makers to plan adequate policies to this important commodity and to establish the necessary logistical resources. In this sense, this study aims to predict soybean harvest area, yield, and production using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and compare with classical methods of Time Series Analysis. To this end, we collected data from a time series (1961–2016) regarding soybean production in Brazil. The results reveal that ANN is the best approach to predict soybean harvest area and production while classical linear function remains more effective to predict soybean yield. Moreover, ANN presents as a reliable model to predict time series and can help the stakeholders to anticipate the world soybean offer.

MERCADO INTERNACIONAL DA SOJA: MODELANDO OS EFEITOS DOS CUSTOS DAS TRANSAÇÕES E DAS BARREIRAS COMERCIAIS

Este estudo analisa os impactos dos custos das transações e das barreiras comerciais no mercado internacional da soja. Para atingir tal objetivo, utiliza-se um modelo de equilíbrio parcial formulado como um Problema de Complementaridade Mista (PCM) o qual permite a construção de cenários alternativos. São definidos três cenários: no primeiro eliminam-se os custos das transações comerciais; no segundo, retiram-se as barreiras tarifárias e os subsídios; e no terceiro é simulado um choque de demanda de 20%. Os resultados mostram que a eliminação dos custos das transações comerciais resulta em um aumento na produção de soja no Brasil, na Argentina e na China e um maior consumo nos Estados Unidos e na UE. No cenário de livre comércio observa-se que as mudanças em termos de produção e consumo são reduzidas, o que reflete as características das políticas adotadas pelos principais países produtores e consumidores. A simulação do choque de demanda, definido com base nas expectativas de incremento no consumo de farelo, óleo e biodiesel, mostra que o Brasil é o único país exportador que apresenta um maior incremento no consumo do que na produção, refletindo em uma menor participação no comércio mundial de soja.

Effects of cowpea mild mottle virus on soybean cultivars in Brazil.

Soybean stem necrosis is caused by cowpea mild mottle virus (CPMMV), transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci. CPMMV has already been recorded in all major soybean-producing areas of Brazil. The impacts caused by CPMMV to the current Brazilian soybean production are unknown, thus the main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of CPMMV infection on the main important soybean cultivars grown in the Southern and Midwestern regions of Brazil. Although asymptomatic in some of the tested cultivars, CPMMV infection significantly reduced the plant height, the number of pods per plant and the 1,000-grain weight. In addition, estimated yield losses ranged from 174 to 638 kg ha−1, depending on the cultivar. Evidence of seed transmission of CPMMV was observed in the BMX POTÊNCIA RR cultivar. These results suggest that CPMMV could have an important role in the reduction of soybean productivity in Brazil, but symptomless infections might be hiding the actual impact of this pathogen in commercial fields and infected seeds could be the primary inoculum source of the virus in the field.

Levels of Airborne Soybean Allergen (Gly m 1) in a Brazilian Soybean Production City: A Pilot Study.

Asthma epidemics have been shown to be related to where soybeans are loaded and handled, but data are scarce in the literature. This pilot study evaluated the levels of Gly m 1 in dust samples collected in Maringá, Brazil, a city with high soy production and processing. A dust impactor was used to collect seven isolated samples during 2015 and 2016. Samples were analyzed by an ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) detection method. Gly m 1 was found in all samples, ranging from 0.82–24.38 ng/m3 (median 2.41), regardless of the month or year evaluated. The levels of Gly m 1 were considered low, but the concentrations required to cause sensitization and symptoms are uncertain.

The effects of cropping intensity and cropland expansion of Brazilian soybean production on green water flows

As land use change alters how green water is appropriated, cropland expansion is instrumental in re-allocating green water towards agriculture. Alongside cropland expansion, agricultural intensification practices modify crop water use and land and water productivity. Particularly, one form of agricultural intensification known as multi-cropping (the cultivation of a piece of land sequentially more than once a year) can result in greater agricultural output per unit of land, as well as more productive use of the available water throughout the annual rainfall cycle. We assess the influence of these two processes, cropland expansion and agricultural intensification, in agricultural green water use in Brazilian agriculture. We applied the biophysical crop model Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) to estimate green water use for single and double cropping of soybean (Glycine max) and maize (Zea mays) in Brazil. The first part of our study analyses changes in soybean green water use and virtual water content nationwide between 1990 and 2013, and in a second part we look into the effect of double-cropping on water use for soybean and maize in the Brazilian states of Paraná and Mato Grosso between 2003 and 2013. The results show that cropland expansion plays a more prominent effect in green water use for production of soybean than intensification, and harvested area increase was responsible for the appropriation of an additional 95 km3 of green water in 2013 when compared to 1990, an increase of 155%. We estimate that an additional green water use of around 26 km3 related to second season maize was appropriated through increase of cropping frequency, and without expansion of cropland, in 2013 in the selected states. We discuss the importance of considering multi cropping practices when assessing green water sustainability, and the importance of differentiating green water appropriation through expansion and through cropping frequency changes.

Arthropod Invasions Versus Soybean Production in Brazil: A Review.

Soybean production in Brazil has been markedly affected by invasions of non-native arthropod species that feed on the crop, severely impacting biodiversity, food security, health, and economic development. Data on soybean production losses and increase in insecticide usage over the last two decades have not been explored in association with past invasion events, and the dynamics underlying the recent blitz of invasive species into Brazil remain largely unclear. We provide a review of arthropod invasions in the Brazilian soybean agroecosystem since 1990, indicating that the introductions of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) MEAM1 (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), Tetranychus urticae (Koch) (Acari: Tetranychidae), and Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) are likely correlated with periods of increase in insecticide usage for soybean production. Using these three cases as examples, we review factors that could lead to increased likelihood of future invasions by particular pests, outlining four possible criteria to evaluate potential invasiveness of non-native arthropods: likelihood of entry, likelihood of establishment, biological features of the species, and availability of control measures. Spodoptera litura (F.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and Aphis glycines (Matsumura) (Hemiptera: Sternorrhynca) are examples of highly damaging soybean pests, related to one or more of these factors, that could be introduced into Brazil over the next years and which could lead to problematic scenarios. Melanagromyza sojae (Zehnter) (Diptera: Agromyzidae) also meets these criteria and has successfully invaded and colonized Brazilian soybean fields in recent years. Our review identifies current issues within soybean pest management in Brazil and highlights the need to adopt management measures to offset future costs and minimize lost revenue.

Energy-Qualitative and Sustainable Impacts on Differents Soy Grain Drying Technologies

The objective of this current paper is to evaluate, in real production scale, the management of soybean batches in the storage unit of harvested grains that are submitted to drying processes with different technologies, such an evaluation can contribute to minimizing energy and qualitative losses, and to ensuring the grain quality and sustainability of the postharvest system. The experiment was realized in full-scale production and the treatments utilized were lots moist soybean crop (SUL), RR dry soybean (SSLRR), RR2 dry soybean (SSLRR2), dried soybean in continuous dryer (SSS1) (11.0%), dried soybean silo-dryer (SSS2) (12.5%), dried soybean in silo aerator (SSS3) (14.0%). Energy losses and grain quality as a function of drying management ranged from 2.5 to 16.4% in energy, from 0.23 to 3.26% in crude protein and 0.15 to 3.05% in oil—the maximum yield of wet soybeans harvested from the crop (SUL) at 17% (w.b.). Considering the annual Brazilian soybean production, energy losses reach up to 162,282.50 m³ of firewood, approximately 2,116,963,470 kg of crude protein and 810,616,800 liters of crude oil. This would ensure lower losses and higher grain quality, including better yield of protein and crude oil, specifically reducing energy impacts by increasing the efficiency of the drying system. The current study concluded that the SSS1 drying system reduces energy-environmental impacts by 80.23%, reduces crude protein losses by 94.73%, and crude oil by 95.08%.

Evaluation of the economic and environmental impacts from the addition of new railways to the brazilian's transportation network: An application of a network equilibrium model

Transport policies and infrastructure investments diverge across countries, but the actions to improve transportation performance and simultaneously to reduce its CO2 emissions have gained importance around the world. In Brazil, the infrastructure bottlenecks and the low productivity of transport have increasing freight costs and simultaneously the CO2 emissions. Aiming to reduce the impacts of the transport sector inefficiency the Federal Government announced a public-private partnership program to increase investment in new railways. We propose a dual-step procedure to evaluate the expected economic and environmental impacts lead to the inclusion of new railways to the transportation network: i) apply a Network Equilibrium Model to simulate the interregional transportation flows of Brazilian soybean and corn production and evaluate the benefits, measured in terms of reduced transportation costs and CO2 emissions, caused by the new railways; ii) use a cost-effective analysis to rank the investments in the railways according to their economic and environmental contributions. We found that the implementation of the Brazilian planned railways could reduce 17% the total freight cost and 20% the total CO2 emissions of corn and soybean transportation. Three railway projects presented important economic and environmental gains and showed be attractive to private funding.

Physiological approach to decipher the drought tolerance of a soybean genotype from Brazilian savana

Drought is one of the major constraints for soybean production in Brazil. In this study we investigated the physiological traits of two soybean parental genotypes under progressive soil drying and rewetting. The plants were evaluated under full irrigation (control) conditions and under water deficit imposed by suspending irrigation until the plants reached predawn leaf water potentials (Ψam) of −1.0 MPa (moderate) and −1.5 MPa (severe). Physiological analyses showed that these genotypes exhibit different responses to water deficit. The Embrapa 48 genotype reached moderate and severe water potential two days after the BR16 genotype and was able to maintain higher levels of A, ETR and ΦPSII even under deficit conditions. This result was not related to changes in gs, 13C isotopic composition and presence of a more efficient antioxidant system. In addition, Fv/Fm values did not decrease in Embrapa 48 genotype in relation to irrigated condition showing that stress was not causing photochemical inhibition of photosynthesis. The greater reduction in the relative growth of the shoots, with concomitant greater growth of the root system under drought, indicates that the tolerant genotype is able to preferentially allocated carbon to the roots, presenting less damage to photosynthesis. Therefore, the physiological responses revealed that the tolerant genotype postponed leaf dehydration by a mechanism involving a more efficient use and translocation of water from root to shoot to maintain cell homeostasis and photosynthetic metabolism under stress.

The Soybean Trap: Challenges and Risks for Brazilian Producers

Since the 1970s, Brazilian soybean production has grown rapidly, driven by increasing national and international demand and rising prices. Consequently, soybean production has come to be perceived as an attractive opportunity, with the number of farms producing soybean across the country reaching around 240,000 in 2017. However, producers can become trapped by dependencies on moneylenders, traders and input supply companies, facing so-called ’agricultural treadmills’. In this study we undertook interviews with individual soybean producers and representatives of trader companies, producers’ associations, the processing industry, government and civil society, and used these data to analyze rural production operations related to the soybean supply chain and to interpret how agricultural treadmills persist in this sector. Based on literature review and fieldwork interviews, we found that producers have been able to add value to their products, but some strategies they use to cope with production costs lead them into high-risk situations. Our findings show that, sectoral (e.g., producers’ associations) and collective actions (e.g., farmers’ buying groups) are a useful strategy for producers to gain influence and bargaining power against transnational companies and input suppliers compared to acting as an individual within the soybean supply chain. Producers were emphatic that the current soybean business is now much more than just farming activities, and that education and training are highly valuable and important strategies to keep producers in the soybean business and out of traps. These findings are important given the neoliberal context in which individual producers find themselves and which presents challenges that alone they can do little to change. Policies that enable individual producers to make environmentally- and financially-sound agricultural decisions are vital to ensure a sustainable soybean system that does not trap producers in endless cycles of debt and investment.

Adaptability and stability of soybean cultivars in four sowing seasons

In recent decades, the expansion of soybean production in Brazil has been observed. This advance was motivated by the search of environments with better cultivation conditions, as well as the development of genotypes with wide adaptation. The diversity of "environments" hinders the process of selection and recommendation of cultivars, since the productive potential of a cultivar is given as a function of the sum of the genotype effect, the environment and the interaction between the latter two (G x E). In the case of this G x E interaction, regional studies are necessary in order to detail the differential behavior of the cultivars. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the genotype interaction by environments, adaptability and phenotypic stability for grain yield, of fifteen soybean cultivars, in four sowing seasons, in order to identify cultivars that combine high productive potential, predictability of behavior and adaptation to the edaphoclimatic conditions of Uberlândia-MG. The trials were conducted at the Experimental Farm Capim Branco, in Uberlândia-MG. Fifteen soybean cultivars were evaluated in four sowing seasons (October 23, 2016, November 19, 2016, December 10, 2016 and January 14, 2017), in relation to grain yield. The experimental design was of randomized complete blocks, with three replications, in each season. Data were submitted to individual and joint analyzes. The G x E interaction was decomposed by the method proposed by Cruz and Castoldi (1991). The differential behavior of the genotypes was detailed by the adaptability and phenotypic stability by the methods of Eberhart and Russell (1966), Lin and Binns (1988) modified by Carneiro (1998), AMMI and Centroid. By the analysis of joint variance, it was observed the existence of the cultivar interaction by sowing times (C x E), for the grain yield trait, at the 5 % probability level by the F test. The C x E was predominantly complex in nature. The cultivar CD 2737 RR presented satisfactory results for the four sowing seasons in Uberlândia-MG, with high grain yield and predictability of behavior, by the evaluated methods. The cultivar NS 6909 IPRO was classified into favorable environments by the methods of Eberhart and Russell (1966) and Lin and Binns (1988) modified by Carneiro (1998). Considering Lin and Binns (1988) modified by Carneiro (1998) and Centroid the cultivar that is also classified for this cultivation condition is UFUS 8301. By AMMI, UFUS 7415, CD 2737 RR and UFUS Milionária are considered stable and adaptable.