Dr. Trent Irby, Mississippi State University Extension soybean specialist, says performance of new varieties show some incredible yield numbers, compared to previous years.

Irby spoke about MSU’s role in variety evaluations for soybeans at this year’s Row Crop Field Day at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center at Verona, Miss.

MSU conducts small plot official variety trials and on-farm variety demonstration programs annually, evaluating soybean varieties in multiple stages of maturity and technologies at locations across Mississippi.

2019 soybean variety evaluations

“MSU’s variety testing program annually evaluates more than 150 soybean varieties at multiple locations across the state. In addition, the Extension soybean demonstration program annually conducts 25 or more variety demonstrations on producer farms. Both programs evaluate maturity Groups 4 and 5 varieties in both irrigated and rainfed production systems,” said Irby. “In 2019, locations mostly include varieties representing the Roundup Ready Xtend system as those varieties make up the majority of what is available to our producers.”

For the first time, though, the team did receive a few varieties representing the Enlist cropping system, which gained approval at the beginning of this year’s growing season.

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“We have seen a big shift in the genetics available over the last couple of years, mainly due to these transitions into new herbicide-tolerant cropping systems. Whenever we see big changes in variety availability, it is important to learn the strengths and weaknesses of these new varieties, so they are placed in the appropriate fields under best management practices,” he said.

In recent years, Mississippi soybean producers have observed some incredible yield numbers, part of which can be attributed to the newer varieties with improved yield performance compared to previous years.

This year’s challenges

“As for this year’s crop, no single commodity has had it easier than another,” Irby said. “With major rain and flooding issues, we have had acres that got planted and replanted and replanted again. There are acres that were never planted and even acres that were planted and lost due to flooding.”

2019 soybean acres took a big hit in Mississippi. The state had been over 2 million acres for several years, but the Mississippi Crop Production Report released in August estimated that Mississippi will harvest 1.67 million acres of soybean this year, down from 2.19 million harvested acres in 2018.

However, since soybeans have a much wider planting window compared to our other crops, farmers were able to continue planting into the summer. Irby pointed out that planting date plays a huge role in setting the soybean yield potential.

“With such delays in planting this season, we would expect a significant decline in yield potential. That, coupled with the less than ideal plant populations we dealt with due to the environmental challenges, has the potential to impact our overall yield,” he said. “With that said, many areas received timely rainfall throughout the season.”

Irby said, considering where this year’s crop started, he is hopeful to see some positive yields.

“A lot of fields looked strong as they approached maturity. We are harvesting now, but it is still too early to tell what the overall state yield average might be,” he said. “I wouldn’t have expected a high-yielding crop this year, but we have been blessed with some rain and some decent weather in a lot of places. I’m excited to see what our yield will be in some areas we were previously concerned about. We are all hopeful for good yields and favorable conditions to get the crop out this fall.”