What causes premature aging (early senescence) in soybeans?
Soybean is what we commonly call yellow bean (edamame/soy). It belongs to the Fabaceae family, genus Glycine, and is an annual herb that generally does not exceed 1 m in height. Soybean is fairly comprehensive in nutrition, containing abundant nutrients, and its protein content is especially rich, many times higher than that of pork, eggs and the like, with excellent quality as well. However, as the soybean planting area continues to expand, the phenomenon of premature aging has become increasingly serious, and premature aging can severely affect the quality and yield of soybeans. So what are the causes of premature aging in soybeans? Let's take a look below.
1. Cultivation method
When planting soybeans, continuous cropping is taboo; crop rotation and stubble alteration should be practiced, because continuous cropping on the same land can extremely easily lead to premature aging in soybeans. This is mainly because the pathogens and insect sources of the soybean crop cannot be reduced or eliminated through rotation, causing pathogens, parasites and the like in the soil to continuously increase and accumulate. This leads to an outbreak of multiple soil-borne fungi and parasites. Secondly, during the planting process, soybeans do not absorb sufficient essential nutrients, and the nutrients in the soil become imbalanced, such as a lack of trace elements like phosphorus, potassium and zinc. Finally, because root exudates are not ploughed and cleared away in time, they accumulate in the soil, forming substances harmful to soybeans, causing the soil to become alkaline and poisoning the plants.
2. Climatic influence
Soybean has relatively low requirements for light duration and is a short-day crop, with a photoperiod of about 18 hours. The most suitable temperature for soybean growth is around 25°C, and during the seedling emergence stage and branching stage, the soil moisture content needs to reach 20%. The water requirement during the flowering stage is even greater, at roughly 80%, because soybean is quite sensitive to the above growing environment. Abnormal climate changes will have a serious impact on the growth and development of soybeans. If the physiological needs of the growth period are exceeded or not met, there will be a high probability of causing premature aging in soybeans.
3. Damage from pests and diseases
Pests and diseases are one of the main causes of premature aging in soybeans. Many times, farmers do not pay attention to continuous cropping or soil disinfection, and are unwilling to change the planting plot. Experiments have shown that plots with continuous cropping on the same land are where premature aging occurs most severely, because in continuously cropped areas, the soil contains large amounts of pathogens and parasites that are difficult to eliminate. Many pests and diseases have only soybean as their host, such as root rot, Verticillium wilt, and bean root maggot, all of which can seriously affect the normal growth and development of soybeans and cause premature aging. Therefore, everyone must be careful not to practice continuous cropping, and should plough and disinfect the soil.
4. Nutrient deficiency
Soybean has a relatively large fertilizer requirement during the planting process, and the nutrients it needs are fairly comprehensive; it is a crop with many nutrient elements and a full range of types. Therefore, if sufficient nutrients are not supplied during growth, or if a certain nutrient substance is lacking, it will have a great impact on the growth of soybeans. Moreover, due to the suppressive effect of organic fertilizer on fertilizer efficiency and yield, large amounts of chemical fertilizers are now used, and a series of unreasonable management practices such as continuous cropping on the same land will also cause nutrient deficiency in soybeans, making soybeans lack nutrients, and malnutrition leads to premature aging in soybeans.
The four points above are the main causes of premature aging in soybeans. The nutrients needed by soybeans are very comprehensive, and the lack of even one will affect their normal growth and development, so everyone must ensure the nutrients soybeans need. Soybean also has a relatively large water requirement, but it is not tolerant of waterlogging, so when encountering rainstorm weather or when there is a lot of standing water in the field, drainage must be carried out in time to prevent waterlogging from damaging the roots. I hope this article by the editor is helpful to everyone!