Analysis of the Key Points of Integrated High-Yield Technology for Rainfed Soybean

I. Basic Information: 1. Project source: One of the projects under the "Comprehensive Technical Research on Increasing Production in the Sanjiang Plain Agricultural Region" issued by the National Science and Technology Commission during the "Sixth Five-Year Plan" period. A national key research project. 2. This project was reviewed in December 1985 by an appraisal committee composed of 20 experts and scholars including famous professors Wang Jinling and Zhang Zijin from China's soybean science community. The appraisal concluded that the research direction was correct, the approach was right, the measures were appropriate, and the results were remarkable, with an obvious yield-increasing effect on subsequent crops as well. Breakthrough progress had been made in integrated research and supporting technologies, and the committee unanimously considered the research results to be of advanced domestic and international standard and an outstanding scientific and technological achievement. It was recommended that the relevant departments actively promote and apply them. In September 1987, this project won the second prize of the Heilongjiang Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award.

II. Main Content and Technical-Economic Indicators 1. Technical characteristics, relevant parameters, and indicators: The comprehensive agricultural technology system is mainly based on the interdependent relationship between the local natural ecological environment and soybean growth and development. The three-ridge cultivation method has the characteristics of coordination, orderliness, and completeness. Compared with traditional cultivation methods, the average yield per mu increased by 23.5%. 2. Simple operating procedures, conditions required for extension, and related supporting technologies: Technical key points: (1) Deep loosening at intervals in the ridge body and furrow. (2) Layered deep application of basal fertilizer, seed fertilizer, and topdressing. (3) Double-row precision (metered) hill sowing on the ridge. This cultivation method combining ridge cropping and flat cropping with these three new technologies is commonly called the soybean "three-ridge" cultivation method. Compared with conventional methods, the "three-ridge" cultivation method has six major technical improvements: (1) Changing flat plowing to a combination of plowing, harrowing, and loosening. (2) Changing flat cropping to ridge cropping. (3) Changing shallow surface application to layered deep application of basal fertilizer and seed fertilizer. (4) Changing single-row flat sowing to double-row precision hill sowing on the ridge. (5) Changing single control of diseases, insects, and weeds to integrated control of diseases, insects, and weeds. (6) Changing one machine for one use to one machine for multiple uses. (2) Advantages of the "three-ridge" cultivation method: The combination of ridge deep loosening and layered deep fertilization enhances soybean resistance to drought, waterlogging, disease, lodging, and low temperature, and improves the soil's capacity to supply fertilizer, water, oxygen, and heat and to store fertilizer, water, and oxygen. The combination of double-row precision hill sowing on the ridge with cultivation and sowing, cultivation and management, and cultivation and protection through compound operations coordinates the relationship among water, fertilizer, air, and heat in the soil. Therefore, it improves the photosynthetic production efficiency of soybean, the utilization rate of soil moisture, the utilization rate of fertilizer, and the utilization rate of effective accumulated temperature, as well as the comprehensive weeding efficiency of mechanical and chemical weeding. (3) Supporting machinery for the soybean three-ridge cultivation method: According to different levels of traction power, our school has designed three types of tillage and sowing machines: (1) 2BJGL-6 double-row precision tillage and sowing machine drawn by medium-sized tractors (54 or 75 horsepower). It can complete combined operations such as deep loosening, fertilization, sowing, spraying, soil covering, and compaction in one or two passes, with a ridge spacing of 70 cm, a working width of 6 rows, and a workload of 250-300 mu per shift. (2) 2BJGL-12 drawn by large tractors (over 100 horsepower), with other functions the same as the medium-sized machine, a working width of 12 rows, and a shift workload of about 1000 mu. (3) 2BJGL-2 drawn by small tractors (12-20 horsepower), with functions the same as the above two, and a working width of 2 rows. The shift workload is 40-60 mu. Combined accessories include: spraying machinery (including seedling-band spraying) and rotary hoe cultivation (including seedling-band rotary hoeing). (4) The soybean three-ridge cultivation method must have agricultural technology implementation plans and operating procedures formulated according to different ecological zones. 3. Expected benefits of extension and application (economic, social, ecological) and market prospect forecast: Since research on the three-ridge technology began in 1981, a method of simultaneous experimental research and demonstration extension was adopted in 1983, and the yield-increasing effect in experimental production was remarkable. From 1983 to 1991, it was continuously expanded and extended in Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Anhui, and the Huang-Huai-Hai region, saving 1.5-2 kg of seed per mu each time. The extension of the soybean three-ridge method opened a new path for the development of agricultural mechanization in China. By equipping the existing small rural tractors in China (mainly used for transportation) with three-ridge tillage and sowing machinery, it played a certain role in promoting agricultural mechanization and the development of the agricultural machinery industry.

III. Suitable Areas and Scope for Extension The soybean three-ridge cultivation method is currently widely extended in Northeast China. In recent years, trials in the Huang-Huai-Hai region (Shouxi Lake Farm in Anhui and Zhumadian region in Henan) have shown good yield-increasing results. In 1991, even under flood conditions, the yield per mu was above 150 kg. After replacing the seed-metering wheel components, the tillage and sowing machinery of the three-ridge cultivation method can be used for sowing intermediate-tillage crops such as corn, sorghum, and sugar beet. After many years of use, crops such as corn and sugar beet have all achieved significant yield increases.