Soybean Farming

General Information

Soyabean called as golden beans are belongs to legume family and mostly used for oilseed purpose. It is native of East Asia. Oil extracted from soybean contain small amount of saturated fat. It is second popular oilseed of India after groundnut. In India, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, AP, UP are major Soyabean producing states. The Soyabean cake is also used as feed for dairy animals as it contains high amount of protein content. In Himachal Pradesh, approximately 250acres land is used for Soyabean farming. 

Climate

  • Season

    Temperature

    18-38°C
  • Season

    Rainfall

    30-60cm
  • Season

    Sowing Temperature

    25-38°C
  • Season

    Harvesting Temperature

    18-25°C
  • Season

    Temperature

    18-38°C
  • Season

    Rainfall

    30-60cm
  • Season

    Sowing Temperature

    25-38°C
  • Season

    Harvesting Temperature

    18-25°C
  • Season

    Temperature

    18-38°C
  • Season

    Rainfall

    30-60cm
  • Season

    Sowing Temperature

    25-38°C
  • Season

    Harvesting Temperature

    18-25°C
  • Season

    Temperature

    18-38°C
  • Season

    Rainfall

    30-60cm
  • Season

    Sowing Temperature

    25-38°C
  • Season

    Harvesting Temperature

    18-25°C

Soil

It gives good result, when grown on well drained, fertile loamy soils. pH of 6 to 7.5 is favourable for optimum yield of soybean. Water logged, saline/alkaline soils are not suitable for its cultivation. Low temperature affects crop severely.

Popular Varieties With Their Yield

Shivalik (Himso-333): It is a high yielding variety which is approved for growing in low hilly areas (altitude of 900m above sea level). It has 90-100cm long plant height. It gets ready in 115 days. Light Cream color hairs present on all plant and contain white color flowers. It has yellow color grains which are medium in size and contains 18.6% of oil content and 38% of protein content. The variety is resistant to yellow mosaic disease. It gives an average yield of 6-8qtl/acre.
 
Punjab No.-1:
It is approved to cultivate lower and intermediate hilly areas. It has 70-80cm plant height and each plant bear 60-70 legumes. The grains are yellow in color and medium in size. It gets ready in 110 days. By growing of this variety in lower areas, there is medium outbreak of yellow mosaic disease. It gives an average yield of 6qtl/acre.

Lee: It is approved to grow upto an altitude of 1000m above sea level. It has 70cm long plant height. It has medium sized and yellow color grains. The variety is resistant to Bacterial spots.

Brag: It is a high yielding variety which is approved for low hilly areas. It has 80cm plant height and each plant bear 50-60 legumes . It has thick, yellow and shiny grains which contain 20% of oil content and 37% of protein content.

Harit Soya (P 4-2): It is a green grain variety which is approved to be grown in intermediate hilly areas. It bears deep brown color legumes which contains green color grains. The variety gets ready in 114-129 days. It is resistant to Bacterial spots and brown spots. It gives an average yield of 7.qtl/acre.

Palam Soya (P30-1-1):  The variety is approved for growing in intermediate hilly areas. It is suitable for early and timely sowing. The plant remains small and the plant height is 75cm long. It is moderately resistant to leaf spot, wilt and Bacterial diseases. The variety gets ready in 120-12 days and gives an average yield of 6-8qtl/acre.

Himso 1588:  The variety is approved for growing in intermediate hilly areas where there is no problem of Yellow Mosaic virus. The plant height is 79cm long. The variety is resistant to brown spots and is moderately resistant to withering and bacterial spots. The variety gets ready in 118-123 days. 100 seeds weight approximately 11gm. The seeds contain 42% of protein content and 19% of oil content. It gives an average yield of 7.5qtl/acre.

Other states varieties:

JS 93-05:
Resistant to collar rot, pod and bud blight. Seeds are greenish yellow color.

JS 95-60: Ready to harvest in 82-88 days. It is resistant to root rot and various insect, pest.

JS 335: Early maturing variety resistant to bacterial blight and tolerant to stem fly, bud blight. Gives average yield of 10-12qtl/acre.

Pratap Soya 1, Pratap Soya 45 (RKS 45),

JS 97-52
: High yielding variety gives average yield of 10-12qtl/acre. Ready to harvest in 98-102 days. It is resistant to yellow mosaic virus, root rot etc.

RKS 24

VL Soya 63

VL Soya 59

NRC 37 (Ahilya 4):
Seeds are of light to dark brown color. It gives resistance to collar rot, pod and bud blight also resistant to stem fly and leaf minor. 

MAUS 47: Resistant to bud blight, collar rot, Anthracnose, gray semilooper etc. Seeds are yellow color.

MAUS 61-2: Seeds are of yellow color. Resistant to pod shattering. Seeds are light brown color.
 
Alankar, Ankur, Bragg, Lee, PK 262, PK 308, PK 327, PK 416, PK 472, PK 564, Pant Soybean 1024, Pant Soybean 1042, Pusa 16, Pusa 20, Pusa 22, Pusa 24, Pusa 37, Shilajeet, VL soya 2, VL soya 47, MAUS 158, VL soya 65, VL soya 59, SL 525, Pratap Soya 2, TAMS 9821, Phule Kalyani (DS 228), Pusa 9814, Co (SOY)-3, LSB-1, Hara soya.

Sowing

Time of sowing
For soybean, optimum time for cultivation is mid-June during first rainfall of monsoon season.

Spacing

For sowing, use row to row spacing of 10-15cm and plant to plant spacing of 4-7cm.

Sowing Depth
Under optimum moisture content, sow seeds at depth of 3-4cm. Avoid deep sowing as it will affect germination.

Method of sowing
Sow seeds with help seed drill.
 

Seed

Seed Rate
Use seed rate of 30kg for sowing in one acre land. In rainfed areas, use seed rate of 40kg/acre.

Seed Treatment
To protect seeds from soil borne diseases, treat seeds with Thiram + Carbendazim or Captan@3gm per kg of seeds. After chemical treatment, treat seeds with Trichoderma viride@4-5gm/kg of seeds. 
 

Fertilizer

Fertilizer Requirement (kg/acre)

  UREA SSP
MOP
Heavy rainfall areas 15 150 25
Light rainfall areas 15 75 20

 

Nutrient Requirement(kg/acre)

  NITROGEN PHOSPHORUS POTASH
Heavy rainfall areas 8 25 16
Light rainfall areas 8 12.5 12.5

 

Apply FYM or well decomposed cowdung@10 ton/acre. Also apply Nitrogen@8kg/acre(in the form of 15 kg urea), Phosphorus@25kg/acre(in the form of 150 kg SSP) and Potash@16kg/acre (in the form of 25 kg MOP)at time of sowing.

 

Weed Control

To keep field weed free, two hand weeding are required, take first hand weeding 15-20 days after sowing and second 30-40 days after sowing.
To control weeds, spraying of Basalin (800 ml/acre) in 200 litre of water is done before seed germination. For weed control spraying of Goal (400ml/acre) or Stomp (1.8 ltr/acre) is done before seed germination is done before or after seed germination.
 

Irrigation

As it is rainfed crop it does not required irrigation. But if needed, apply irrigation depending upon rainfall conditions. Irrigation at the time of pod filling stage is necessary. Water stress at this period will affect yield drastically.

Plant protection

White Fly
  • Pest and their control:

White Fly: For white fly control, take spray of Thiamethoxam@40gm or Triazophos@200ml/acre. If necessary take second spray 10days after first spray.

Tobacco Caterpillar

Tobacco caterpillar: If infestation is observed, take spray of Acephate 57SP@800gm/acre or Chlorpyriphos 20EC@ 1.5Ltr/acre. If necessary take second spray 10days after first spray. 

Blister Beetle

Blister beetle: They cause damage at flowering stage. They feed on flowers, buds thus prevent grain formation.
If infestation is observed, take spray of Indoxacarb 14.5SC@200ml or Acephate 75SC@800gm/acre. Carry out spraying in evening hours and if necessary take second spray 10 days after first spray. 

Yellow Mosaic Virus

Yellow mosaic virus: It is spread due to white fly. Irregular yellow, green patches are observed on leaves. Pods are not developed on infected plants.

Grow yellow mosaic virus resistant varieties. For white fly control, take spray of Thiamethoxam@40gm, Triazophos@ 200ml/acre. If necessary take second spray 10 days after first spray.
 

Rust

Rust: If infestation is observed in field, take spray of Hexaconazole or Propiconazol@10ml in 10Ltr water. If necessary take its second spray at interval of 15 days.

Cercospora Leaf Spot

Cercospora leaf spot: As a preventive measure, take spray of Carbendazim 50WP or Thiophanatemethyl 70WP@ 500gm in 200Ltr water/acre.

Harvesting

Crop is ready for harvesting when pods become dry and leaves changes their color to yellow and fall off. Harvest crop with sickle or by hand. After harvesting, carry out threshing operation.

Post-Harvest

After drying, carry out proper cleaning of seeds. Remove small size seeds,damaged seeds and crop stalks.