Seed yield and quality of soybean [glycine max (L.) merill] as influenced by cultivar and sowing date in vertisols of Andhra Pradesh during kharif season

Abstract

In order to study the effect of planting date and cultivar on seed yield and germinating ability of soybean, an experiment was conducted for two seasons (2014 – 15 and 2015 – 16) at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh. Two popular varieties, viz., JS-335 and JS-93-05 were sown on four sowing dates i.e. July 2nd fortnight (FN), August 1st FN, August 2nd FN and September 1st FN during the two consecutive kharif crop seasons in FRBD design, replicated thrice. The variety JS-335 recorded significantly higher yield (1296 kg ha-1) than JS-93-05 (690 kg ha-1). Early sowings during July 2nd FN and August Ist FN recorded significantly at par yields (1087 kg ha-1, 1101 kg ha-1 respectively) with good initial and aging germination percentage (81%, 58.8% respectively). Though September 1st FN sown crop recorded significantly lowest seed yield (860 kg ha-1), the initial and aging germination percentage were highest (88.6%, 66.0%).