The long-term goal of this project is to characterize the impact of local environments on soybean development and performance in Kentucky. Soybean varieties should fulfill agronomic performance such as yield, stress tolerance, and oil and protein product quality. Variety evaluation depends on data generated from field trials and analyses. Crop variety evaluation requires methodological innovation for better advising and decision-making. As data collection for applied research is becoming more affordable, the variety trials research can be improved with data management, and analysis. This project focuses on collection of environmental data, with the objective to better understand the impact of local environments on variety trials outcomes. Environmental conditions affect soybean performance in term of yield and seed quality. Here, we propose to monitor environmental conditions during the soybean growing season at each of the trials test sites. Growth and reproductive stages of randomly selected soybean varieties will also be monitored. These sets of data will be collected from soybean production farms as well as research experimental farms, with a total of 8 independent locations in all major soybean production areas in Kentucky.
The 2021 data will be analyzed with 2019, 2020 datasets, to compare test sites and evaluate how to optimize data analysis for recommendation to farmers for the selection of the best varieties for their production systems. The data generated will continue to build an open access database. This database will constitute an unbiased and open access source of information for soybean producers, researchers, and seed breeders. This comprehensive database will be used to develop predictive models for soybean yield, seed quality, and will provide inputs for breeders to develop varieties better adapted to Kentucky environments.

Specific project objectives:
1) Provide timely, unbiased and independent information to soybean growers in Kentucky to help in selecting the best varieties for their production systems. The information provided by the trials aids Kentucky soybean producers with selecting varieties that will give the highest total production for their production systems. The trials are conducted to provide an unbiased and objective estimate of the relative performance of soybean varieties commercially available in Kentucky. Performance, defined as yield and seed quality, is evaluated by testing the varieties genetics as whole. Cultivars in the trials are commercially available and entered by commercial seed companies, and state and federal institutions.

2) Monitor environmental conditions affecting directly soybean yield and seed quality Kentucky lies within three major physiographic regions: the Appalachian Plateau, the Interior Lowlands, and the Coastal Plain. Within the state, six smaller regions may be identified, based on their underlying rock structures: Mountain, Knobs, Bluegrass, Pennyrile, Western Coalfield, and Purchase. Geological and drainage differences caused different terrain and soil conditions to develop over millions of years, creating differing capabilities for today’s agriculture. Most of soybean production today is centered in western Kentucky, with a gradual expansion toward central and eastern Kentucky. In addition to soil differences, soybean production areas experience different temperatures and rain amounts over the course of each soybean growing season. Collecting detailed environmental data will allow soybean producers to compare the environments of their own agronomic systems to those in which the soybean variety performance tests are conducted.

3) Promote the development of better recommendations to soybean producers in Kentucky The objective is to monitor the environmental conditions under which the trials are conducted to evaluate the effect of the environmental conditions on yield and seed quality at each location, and to integrate this information in the variety performance evaluation to develop better recommendation for farmers.

4) Promote the development of a database to facilitate open data access to soybean producers and scientists investigating soybean performance in Kentucky The objective of the digital database is to develop a tool to provide an easy and timely access to information relevant to soybean performance in Kentucky. 5) Improve the long–term sustainability of the Kentucky Soybean Variety Performance Tests program The funds requested in this proposal will support the technician position. This position provides essential support for timely agricultural management of the soybean trials, and data collection.

1. Timely release of the “Kentucky Soybean Variety Performance Tests” bulletin in late November/early December. The objective of the program is to provide this publication at a time when soybean producers in Kentucky need independent resources to help them selecting the best soybean varieties for their production systems.

2. Long-term outcomes: the data collected will be used to develop better management recommendations for soybean production by:
• Optimization of current recommendation to farmers
• Implementing an open access database to facilitate access to information relevant to soybean production to researchers and breeders
• The database can help develop new varieties that are adapted to KY environmental conditions.

The Kentucky Soybean Variety Performance Tests are conducted to provide an unbiased and objective estimate of the relative yield performance of soybean varieties grown in Kentucky. The trials assess the relative performances of commercial soybean varieties in the maturity groups II, III, IV, and V. Performance of soybean cultivars is affected by many factors including location, weather pattern over the course of the growing season, soil type, time of planting, and agronomic management. A particular variety is usually adapted for a geographical area approximately 100 miles wide from north to south. Therefore, the best varieties in northern Kentucky may not be suitable in southern parts of the state. For these reasons, the tests are conducted at 8 locations in the major soybean producing areas of Kentucky, and environmental data are collected at all test sites. The project supports a technician position. The Technician assists the project leader by providing support with all steps of soybean agronomic production and data collection: planting, stand count, pest and disease control over the course of the growing season, preparation for harvest, and collecting samples for seed composition analysis. In addition, the technician operates and maintains the plot research equipment. The data are released in the form of a bulletin, the “Soybean Variety Performance Tests” report, published by the University of Kentucky in November. The objective of the program is to provide this publication at a time when soybean producers in Kentucky need resources to help them with selecting the best soybean varieties for their production systems. The bulletin can be downloaded from the program website, and is also available as printed copies at the University of Kentucky Extension Offices.

The KY soybean variety performance trials are conducted to provide unbiased and objective estimate of the relative performance of soybean varieties grown on Kentucky. The information generated from the trials intends to help soybean producers to select the best varieties for their production systems. The project objective is to monitor the environmental conditions under which the trials are conducted to evaluate the effect of the environmental conditions on yield and seed quality at each location, and to integrate this information in the variety performance evaluation to develop better recommendation for soybean producers. This project will also promote the development of an online, open access database. An online database will facilitate access to comprehensive information relative to soybean yield and seed quality production in Kentucky. Access to environmental information for each test site will allow soybean producers to compare the trials with their own production systems.