In order to be competitive on the global market, Canadian crop producers require access to the most advanced genotypes and agronomic practices in their production systems. Southern Alberta, with relatively warmer and longer growing conditions, and over 0.64 million hectares of arable lands with irrigation, provide producers with several cropping options. Soybean is a potential candidate to be included in crop rotation systems in southern Alberta, but for it to be economically viable, superior genotypes and effective agronomic practices should be available to producers.
This multi-site year project will evaluate low heat unit (=2300 CHU) requiring soybean genotypes for production superiority, and determine the optimum plant population density; efficient irrigation schedule; effective root nodulation based on residual soil nitrogen, and also will compare the economic and rotational benefits of soybean with those of dry bean, a well-established irrigated grain legume crop in southern Alberta.
This project will identify superior genotypes and effective cultural practices, which will potentially improve the current provincial average soybean productivity from 2.7 t/ha (40 bu/ac) to over 4.0 t/ha (>60 bu/ac), and consequently helping to increase the soybean crop extent in southern Alberta in support of the local oilseed processing and livestock industries.