Growing soybeans in Saskatchewan is still a race against the clock.
To succeed, producers must carefully consider the variety’s corn heat units and days to maturity as well as their individual frost-free growing period.
“Look for as much info as you can if you’re interested in this crop.… Especially in these kind of frontier areas like Saskatchewan and Alberta, we need to pick those that have the earliest possible maturity,” Tom Warkentin of the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre told CropSphere in Saskatoon Jan. 15.
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“If you do the math on 124 days to maturity, that’s four months, and how often do we get four months? You have to take that very seriously.”
In Saskatchewan, the soybean variety with the earliest maturity is 121 days.
Soybeans are classified into maturity groups. The double zero and triple zero groups, which are the earliest maturing, are a must in Saskatchewan.
Warkentin is involved in an initiative to breed soybeans for short-season regions. As part of the project, material from an Ottawa breeder will be grown in Saskatoon and Rosthern, Sask. The researchers will make selections for maturity based on plants that perform best in those regions.
“It’s better if we can make the selections here,” said Warkentin.
The U of S is also contributing to soybean trials co-ordinated by Manitoba Agriculture. Twenty-five varieties were tested across the Prairies and Ontario last year. The U of S managed Saskatchewan plots in Saskatoon, Rosthern, Floral and Yorkton.
All plots were seeded in late May and harvested Sept. 30, which was ahead of the first killing frost in early October.
“That was very beneficial, fortuitous, for soybeans,” said Warkentin.
“Typically, first frost comes earlier than that.”
Average yields for all varieties and sites were 24 to 38 bushels per acre, generally matching what is seen in commercial fields in eastern Saskatchewan. The yield range was the greatest at Floral and Yorkton, where the spread between varieties was 13 to 35 and 16 to 42 bu. per acre.
Frost has been an issue in trials in previous years in mid-September.
“There is a company that buys frosted soybeans, so in a sense it’s not like all is lost, but something is lost when this kind of thing happens,” said Warkentin.
