Soy Beans
Commodity management
5.1 Intercropping
- Soybeans grow best when planted as a monocrop; however when intercropped, plant component crop should be planted on alternate 4-5 rows
- Farmers can also plant soybean in between Maize planting stations, if the maize planting stations are spaced at 90cm not at the current planting pattern of 25cm in between planting stations of maize crop; this is because soybean is sensitive to shading.
- Intercropping 2 legumes that have different growth habits is a relatively new practice.
- It takes advantage of the beneficial interactions between 2 legumes
- A successful arrangement involves pigeon peas, because pigeon pea grows slowly for the first 2 months after planting
- Thus pigeon pea can be intercropped with either groundnuts or soybeans, without too much competition for water, nutrients and sunlight
- Pigeon pea only starts rapid growth when either soybean or groundnuts are approaching maturity. When the groundnut or soybean crop matures in about 4 months and harvested earlier, pigeon pea continues to grow on its own in the field until it is harvested later.
- This system doubles crops as well as soil fertility benefits
5.2 Weeding
- These are unwanted plants competing for light, nutrients and water with crops
- hand weeding is done twice (three weeks after planting) and 6 weeks after the first weeding
- Late weeding encourages competition
- Herbicides such as glyphosates can be used as they provide easy and effective control
5.4 Fertilization
- All the phosphorus may be applied in the basal along with 50 kg of Nitrogen and 50 kg of potassium.
- The remaining 50 kg N and 150 kg K should be divided into two side-dressings at 4 to 6 weeks and at 10 to 12 weeks from planting
- Liming- Calcium can be supplied by lime or dolomites to adjust soil PH
