Practice Abstract 20 - Variety choice soybean in the Netherlands

Short title (native language): 
Variety choice soybean in the Netherlands

Short summary for practitioners (native language): 
In the Netherlands a market is growing for home grown soya production. At present,
the number of farmers involved as well as the area have increased to around 80 farmers on 400 ha.
To support this development, variety trials were set up to inform farmers and the value chains on the best varieties for Dutch circumstances. High yields (>3.5 t/ha) and high protein content (>42%) are the most important requirements next to a maturity date that was not too late to increase unwanted risks. Trials were done on different locations in the Netherlands as it was assumed that the different regions would result in different variety choices. Because there are no ongoing breeding activities on soya in the Netherlands, these varieties originated Austria, Swiss, Germany and France. The highest yielding variety appeared to be Obelix with up to 5.2 t/ha in some years followed closely by Alexa and Viola with up to 5.0 t/ha. Generally, crops in the South were earlier and better yielding than in the North but protein content showed no stable difference. Specific local circumstances like drought and also temperature appeared to be very much influencing yield and also maturity. So far, protein contents did not generally exceed the requested 42%. Maximum protein contents were 41%, so not yet meeting the demand. Experiments will continue to identify the best varieties for Dutch circumstances.

For more information contact:
Chris de Visser, Business Unit Manager Wageningen UR Lelystad (chris.devisser@wur.nl) or Ruud Timmer, researcher protein crops (ruud.timmer@wur.nl).
https://www.wur.nl/en/Research-Results/Research-Institutes/plant-researc...