2004 Research
Buoyed by the upward price surge in the soybean marketplace the Maryland Soybean Board has voted to invest a total of $91,350 to support 13 crop production research projects for 2004-'05.
They range from looking for and controlling soybean pests which may be lurking in adjacent grass buffer strips to evaluating whether certain cover crops can not only alleviate soil compaction but help to reduce nematode populations as well.
The soybean board is made up of 10 farmers who, along with an ex-officio three-member advisory panel, are charged with administering the national soybean checkoff program in the state. Under the checkoff, producers set aside 50 cents of every $ 100 which they receive at the first point of sale. The Soybean Board draws from the checkoff "kitty" to support research, education and market development programs and projects.
Meeting March 11 in Easton, the board awarded these grants for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1:
- $5,000 to Dr. Galen Dively, University of Maryland Extension entomologist, to support a wide ranging project involving riparian grass buffers. Dively would like to know if soybean pest problems can be linked to those buffers and, on the other hand, whether the buffers might be used to nurture the natural enemies of soybean pests in adjacent fields. He informed the board he will need two growing seasons (2004 and 2005) in order to examine "a sufficient range of buffer designs and field conditions." The project also is being supported by the Maryland Center for Agro- Ecology.
- $9,200 to a team of researchers to recreate the nematode research microplots at the Lower Eastern Shore Research and Education Center, to mplant various ranges of nematode populations in those microplots and then to study the impact of those nematode densities while employing various combinations of resistant varieties and various soil amendments. Project leader is Dr. Inga Zasada of the USDA nematology lab at Beltsville.
- $4,750 to Dr. Robert Kratochvil, University of Maryland Extension field crop specialist, to continue his evaluation of various edible full season soybean varieties and lines for yield, agronomic performance and quality traits and to compare edible soybean varieties in organic and conventionally managed full season systems.
- $19,950 to Dr. Stephen Prince of the University of Maryland Department of Geography to continue to test techniques for monitoring soybean crop conditions from an airplane using remote sensing imagery. After two previous years of research, Dr. Prince reports that "there is little doubt that the use of radiometry makes early detection of crop problems of all types much more easy than it is for ground-based observers. In addition, the imagery can indicate the extent and severity of the problem and potentially provide digital inputs to variable rate application equipment."
- $16,450 to Dr. Frank Coale, University of Maryland nutrient management specialist, to support the third year of a study evaluating the response of full-season beans to applications of manure on three soil types and, equally important, the post-harvest nitrate leaching potential of the three soils with and without manure amendments. Coale notes that manure applications are now banned on most fields and where permitted, the rates are too low to be practical. But he adds: "Our goal is to evaluate both the agronomic and environmental impacts associated with application of manure to soybeans. We will apply this knowledge to revisions of Extension recommendations and, indirectly, to Maryland nutrient management regulations."
- $ 10,000 to Dr. Ray Weil, University of Maryland soil scientist, to continued to explore the possibility that deep-rooted brassica cover crops can open up compacted subsoils for the roots of a following soybean crop and, at the same time, help suppress nematode problems in those soils. In the coming year, Weil also wants to develop suitable seeding rates, planting dates and kill methods for the brassica cover as well as the measure the uptake of nitrogen and phosphorous in the cover crop system to determine if they meet nutrient management guidelines.
- $5,500 to Jim Lewis, Caroline County ag agent, who is evaluating fungicide and nitrogen applications to full season irrigated soybeans in the reproductive stage. Lewis wrote in his grant application: "irrigated soybeans yields have topped out at about 65 bushels an acre. This has been the case for about 20 years. There is interest by local farmers to try to up this yield with nitrogen applications during the reproductive stage and late season fungicide application to keep the leaves and plants healthy to ensure complete pod fill and bean enlargement." Lewis will establish his plots at the Wye Research Center.
- A total of $10,500 in three grants of $3,500 each to Dr. Ron Ritter, University of Maryland weed control specialist, to examine tank-mix comparisons with new glyphosate formulations for use in Round Ready soybeans; the proper application timing, and other variables, for glyphosate in Round Ready soybeans; and the management of glyphosate-resistant weeds in full-season no-till soybeans. Ritter said the weed management studies are aimed principally at horseweed although "there have been reports of other weeds that are showing tolerance" to the glyphosate herbicides.
- $10,000 to the Bill Rhodes, representing the Schillinger Seed Co. of Queenstown, Md., to support a broad range research project aimed at developing new food grade, high protein soybean varieties. The grant was made contingent on the Schillinger company, a private firm, making the seed, if and when developed, available to all Maryland farmers who may wish to purchase and plant it. The first Roundup Ready soybeans were grown in experimental plots on the Rhodes farm in Queenstown in 1991.
The soybean board received a pleasant surprise from Dr. Bill Kenworthy, University of Maryland soybean breeder, who reported that he has sufficient funds from the United Soybean Board to continue two major projects and will not this year need additional funding from the Maryland board. In the two projects, previously funded by Maryland for a total of $30,600, Kenworthy will continue to develop and evaluate soybean genotypes for Maryland growers which offer modified oil and protein traits. Secondly, he will again conduct the state soybean variety trials and continue to seek out lines with cyst nematode resistance.