Planting Density and Soybean (Glycine max L.) Cultivars Effects on Yield Components in the Amazon

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of planting density and cultivar of soybean on yield components in the southeast Amazon. The experiment was carried out in an Oxisol, with a randomized block design in a 2 x 4 factorial scheme. The treatments were two soybean cultivars (BRS 9090 RR and BRS 8990 RR) and four planting densities (13, 15, 18 and 20 plants m^-1), with three replications. First pod insertion height (IFP), plant height (H), number of pods per plant (NPP), grain yield (Y) and weight of 100 grains (W100) were evaluated. The insertion height of the first pod showed a tendency of increase with the increment of plants per linear meter for cultivar BRS 8990 RR, different of the behavior observed for the cultivar BRS 9090 RR, which only showed difference when the density of 300.000 plants ha^-1 was tested. For plant height, among soybean cultivars, there was only difference in D400, with BRS 8990 RR showing a maximum height of 83.3 cm, 21% higher than BRS 9090 RR. When evaluated under D350, BRS 8990 RR showed an increase of 13% in the number of pods compared to BRS 9090 RR. Both cultivars showed linear behavior for the grain yield, increasing according the plant population, with the highest grain yield obtained under the density of 400.000 plants ha^-1 (4527.3 kg ha^-1). The weight of 100 grains was not influenced by any variation factor.