Focus on Soybeans: New seed varieties searchable on our website

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Better Farming's annual publication of a list of new soybean varieties is another sign that spring is coming. For the second year, these varieties will be available to growers via our website at www.betterfarming.com. Look for a link on the right side of the web page. This link will lead to a page that is searchable by maturity range, company, special traits and also by hilum colour.

The size of the seed will not be searchable as it is not reported in a consistent manner by the companies that are marketing the seed. Some describe the seed size as small, medium or large, while others report size by number of seeds per kilogram or by pound.

Seed companies tell us that seed size is less relevant now, anyway, as they have converted to packaging seeds in140,000-seed units rather than in 50-pound bags.

This change "makes a lot of sense," says Ontario agriculture ministry soybean specialist Horst Bohner. "If you are paying a lot of money, you want to know how many seeds you are getting. Soybeans should be planted according to yield potential, not seed size. As the cost of things go up, they will be metered out more precisely."

Furthermore, he says, growers will get away from a tendency to select a variety of smaller seeds that have more seeds in a bag and perhaps not choosing the right variety for their growing area.

Not all distributors in Ontario had new varieties available in 2010. And not all of the varieties have been approved for sale at the time that they were submitted for publication. The list will be updated as the distributor receives approval.

Remember that the comments on the chart were provided by the distributor marketing the seed. For a more objective view on how soybean varieties perform in field tests, go to the Ontario oilseed and protein committee's website at www.oopscc.org.

The results published there are from a combination of private and public tests conducted by research institutions in Ontario through the oilseed and protein committee, a subcommittee of the Field Crops Research and Services Committee.

According to the website, "the purpose of these tests is to obtain agronomic, pest, disease, and quality information for use in supporting the registration of new soybean varieties and in preparing a performance report of varieties." BF