The effect of soil acidity on yield and yield related traits of soybean genotypes

Abstract

Soybean production and productivity are affected by biotic and abiotic stresses. Among those factors, Soil acidity is one of the limiting factors for the production of soybean in northwestern Ethiopia. Therefore, this experiment was conducted to determine the effects of soil acidity on, soybean yield, to investigate genotype responses to limed and acidic soil, and identify high-yielder soybean genotypes at acidic soil conditions. A pot experiment consisting of thirteen soybean genotypes and four improved varieties was done using a split-plot design with three replications. Limed (pH 5.8) and acidic soil (pH 4.5) considered as the main plot factor and genotype as subplot factor. Analysis of variance confirmed that there were highly significant differences between soil, among genotypes and genotypes × soil interaction for the number of pods plant^-1, grain yield plant^-1, and harvest index.  The extent of soil acidity effects on yield-related traits had significantly varied from genotype to genotypes. Generally, Soil acidity was reduced grain yield, pod numbers, pod dry weight, seed numbers, hundred seed weight, biomass yield plant-1, and harvest index of soybean by 45.9, 39.2, 43.1, 44.6, 5.3 33.3, and 17.4% respectively.  Genotypes Tgx-1990-87F, Tgx-1989-42F, Tgx-1990-101F, and Tgx-1987-45F had high grain yield plant-1 at both soil conditions with minimum yield reduction as compared as to the average percent of yield reduction due to soil acidity. Therefore, better to test these genotypes under acidic field conditions in Ethiopia to verify the findings from a pot experiment.