Boron Stem Infusions Stimulate Soybean Yield by Increasing Pods on Lateral Branches

Abstract

Studies were carried out to determine if supplemental B (H(3)BO(3)) and Ca (CaCl(2)) injected via a stem infusion technique into soybeans could stimulate yield by increasing pods on lateral branches, seed number, and overall seed yield. Boron treatments caused a significant 84.8% increase in the number of lateral pods/plant and a 17.6% increase in total seed weight/plant. This corresponded to a seed yield of 4170 kilograms per hectare in the B-treated plants compared to 3540 kilograms per hectare in the injected control plants, indicating that B deficiency may have been a factor in limiting yield of control plants. Ca treatments tended to accentuate the negative yield effects of apparent B deficiency.