Effect of Sowing Date on Yield and Seed Quality of Soybean

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the research field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, in the Robi season during the period from November 2013 to March 2014 to study the effect of sowing date on yield and seed quality of soybean. The aim of the study was to find out the appropriate sowing time of soybean. The experiment consists of four different sowing date viz.,18th November, 25th November, 2nd December and 9th December. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) factorial with five replications. The result indicated significant variations in number of pods plant-1, pods length, number of seeds pod-1, 1000-seed weight, seed yield, stover yield, biological yield, harvest index, germination percentage, vigor index, protein content and oil content due to different sowing dates. The results revealed that, the maximum number of pods plant-1 (27.11), pods length (3.48 cm), number of seeds pod-1 (1.91), weight of 1000-seeds (86 g), seed yield (2243 kg ha-1), harvest index (61.55%) and also maximum germination percentage (94.42%), vigor index (2103), protein content (39.37%) and oil content (25.94%) were found when soybean was sown on 2nd December that given the maximum yield and good quality soybean seed.