Effects of location and planting time on physicochemical and nutritional characteristics of soybean seed

Abstract

In the present study, twenty soybean genotypes were grown at two different growing locations viz. Ludhiana and Gurdaspur in Punjab, India and planting times viz. June and July in the year 2010 with the objective to study the effect of growing environments on physical and biochemical characteristics of soybean genotypes. All the genotypes exhibited higher protein, total sugars and sucrose content while significantly lower mean seed weight, volume, swelling and hydration capacities in July planting than in June planting both at Ludhiana and Gurdaspur. Genotypic (G), Locational (L), Planting time (T), GxL and GxT variations were highly significant for these characteristics. The results reported here show that physical and nutritional characteristics of soybean seeds can be altered by different environmental conditions and this information can be useful to select soybean genotypes for large scale cultivation in Punjab state of northwestern India.