Detailed Explanation of Key Points for High-Yield Soybean Cultivation Techniques

Soybean is an annual herbaceous plant, the most important legume in the world, and one of the important food crops in our country, with a cultivation history of five thousand years. So, what are the high-yield soybean cultivation techniques?

1. Variety selection

Choose soybean varieties with good adaptability, high yield, good quality, strong stress resistance, and suitability for local natural conditions. Soybean has an obvious yield-increasing effect when planted in a different location, so varieties planted for many years should be replaced in time; changing varieties can increase yield by about 15%. For low-lying plots in the same accumulated temperature zone, varieties that mature two days earlier in the growth period should be selected.

2. Land preparation and fertilization

Land preparation should follow the principle of deep ploughing; preferably use a deep loosening rotary tiller to increase soil permeability and drought resistance and waterlogging tolerance. The ploughing depth is generally 20-30 cm. For ridge-cultivated soybean, land preparation should be combined with ridge formation, and both the ridge body and furrow should be deeply loosened. Prepare the land finely, achieving a loose top and firm bottom, with a level surface. For plots with a yield of 300 kg per mu, apply 2000 kg of farmyard manure per mu as base fertilizer, and 10-20 kg of diammonium phosphate or a ternary compound fertilizer containing 15% each of nitrogen, phosphorus pentoxide, and potassium oxide; after fertilization, cover firmly with soil and compact it.

3. Sowing at the appropriate time

(1) Seed treatment. Before sowing, choose a sunny day, spread the seeds on a mat to a thickness of about 2 cm, and turn and sun them for 1-2 days. Select a seed coating agent according to local pests and diseases and soil trace elements to ensure neat emergence and robust plants.

(2) Sowing time. When the temperature of the 5 cm-deep plough layer steadily passes 10°C-12°C, sow with sufficient soil moisture. A soil water content of about 20% at sowing is called sufficient soil moisture. If the soil moisture is insufficient, water in time to create moisture and sow in time.

(3) Sowing method. Drill sowing in equal row spacing or hole sowing; generally the row spacing is 40-50 cm and the plant spacing is 10-15 cm, leaving 11,000-15,000 plants per mu. The sowing rate for machine sowing is 4-5 kg per mu, and for manual sowing is 3-3.5 kg per mu, with a sowing depth of about 5 cm.

(4) Compacting after sowing. This promotes seed water absorption and germination and improves the emergence rate. However, when the soil moisture is high, compact later or not at all, so as to avoid surface crusting that affects emergence.

4. Field management

1. Check seedlings and replant, thin seedlings and set seedlings. After soybean emergence, immediately check seedlings and replant; where a row gap is more than 20 cm, replant, and where it is less than 20 cm, leave double plants at both ends of the gap. When the seedlings are 10-20 cm high, manually thin and set the seedlings in time.

2. Intertillage and earthing up. During the early growth stage, carry out intertillage 2-3 times, remove field weeds in time, and carry out intertillage and earthing up before ridge closing to prevent lodging and facilitate watering and drainage.

3. Topdressing flower and pod fertilizer. From flowering to seed filling is the peak period of fertilizer demand. Generally, apply 15-20 kg of diammonium phosphate per mu before flowering, with an obvious yield-increasing effect. Use 0.15 kg of potassium dihydrogen phosphate and 1 kg of urea per mu, mixed with 30 kg of water for foliar spraying, which can reduce flower and pod shedding.

4. Control pests and diseases. Commonly there are gray leaf spot (controlled with benzyl propiconazole and carbendazim), downy mildew (controlled with metalaxyl) and root maggot (controlled with dimethoate emulsifiable concentrate or emamectin benzoate), etc. The main insect pests are pod borers and aphids, etc., and agricultural control and biological control should be the main methods, with chemical control as a supplement. Chemical control: generally at the branching stage, use 80-100 ml of low-toxicity pesticides such as insect traps per mu, mixed with 30 kg of water for spraying, or spray for control when the pest peak appears.

Finally, when the beans are mature, the leaves turn yellow, and the seeds are rounded and hard, harvest in time in the morning or evening to prevent pod shattering. After harvest, dry and thresh them in a clean, pollution-free site in good time, and prevent them from being rained on or soaked and germinating.