Effect of Priming on Yield and Yield Components of Soybean [Glycine max (L.)Merrill] Varieties at Assosa, Western Ethiopia

Abstract

The use of low quality soybean seed is a major limiting factor for yield reduction under tropical and subtropical conditions. Field experiment was carried out at Assosa Agricultural Research Center to determine the effect of priming on yield and yield components of soybean varieties. The experiment had three varieties (Belessa95, Wello and Gishama), three priming types [GA₃ (100PPM), KH₂PO₄ (50 PP) and water] and three priming durations (0, 6, 12hr) were evaluated using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in four replications. Highly significant (P 0.01) difference between interaction of varieties by, priming type and soaking durations for plant height at maturity, number of pods per plants, number of primary branches per plants, yield per hectare, and Varieties by priming type interaction showed highly significant (P 0.01) difference for day to 50% flowering, plant height at maturity, number of pods per plants, number of primary branches per plants, harvest index, thousand seed weight and significant (P 0.05) for number of seed per pod and stand count at harvest. The tallest plant height (87.26cm) was recorded when Belessa95 primed with water for 12hr. Also highest number of pods per plant (46) was observed on Belessa 95 primed with KH₂PO₄ for 12hr, the highest number of seeds per pods (3) was observed when Wello primed with water and highest yield (3418.85 Kg) was recorded for Wello primed with water for 6hr and highest stand count at harvest (119.67) was recorded for Wello primed with water. Hence, Water priming was recommended to user to overcome the problems of poor crop emergence and establishments under this adverse environmental condition.

Keywords: Chemo-priming, Soybean Varieties, Correlation, Germination.

DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/10-11-05

Publication date:June 30th 2020