Agronomic tolerance changes of soybean genotypes under waterlogged condition

Abstract

Stress from excess water is one of the most harmful limiting factors in soybean production during the wet season. This research aimed to study the response of soybean genotypes to waterlogging. Ten soybean genotypes were grown in the screen-house of the Indonesian Legume and Tuber Crops Research Institute (ILETRI), Malang, Indonesia. The experimental design was a randomized block with three replicates. Waterlogging treatment was imposed at 10 days after planting (dap) for 30 days. Changes in the normal environment to waterlogging directly influence the agronomic character’s performance of soybean plants. Soybean agronomic characters including shoot length, root length, shoot dry weight, root dry weight, the number of reproductive branches, plant height, and number of pods per plant were most severely affected by waterlogging, and contribute to the seed yield reduction. Waterlogging during vegetative phase reduced seed yield by 93.82% (14.89 g plant−1 in normal condition to 0.86 g plant−1 in waterlogged soil). Wilis variety produced high yield in both normal and stressed environments, hence, it is categorized as tolerant to waterlogging in the vegetative phase. Sinabung and G511H/0815-2-4-49 are considered as susceptible genotypes due to the highest yield reduction.