In your soybean seed selection process, “yield” is still number one. But, in 1989 I experienced a 21 Bu/A yield difference between a susceptible and moderately resistant variety for Brown Stem Rot at the Agronology 10 Research Center. Risk management is an extremely strong second factor. This means we need to match known history of diseases within a field to a high yielding disease resistant variety. We need to select varieties with good resistance or tolerance to our major diseases. A list of criteria should be made up for the following in each field:
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Soybean cyst nematodes (SCN) -
Sudden death syndrome (SDS) -
Brown stem rot (BSR) -
Phytophthora root and stem rot (PRR) -
Iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC)
Remember, defensive traits in your soybean selection process are an insurance policy for yield.
