Influence of Herbicides on Yield, Weight and Size of Soybean Seed

Abstract

Soybean, (Glycine max) is an annual crop belonging to the family Fabaceae, which is versatile and useful in the economy as human diet, animal feed and for industrial purposes. However, due to its higher price at the time of scarcity, some farmers want reap out that opportunity as such, they hasten the maturity and desiccation of soybean crop by applying herbicides without giving attention to the effects on seed yield and quality. The objective of this study was to investigate the soybean seed yield, seed weight and size quality after herbicides application as desiccant. For this, three cultivars of soybean seed were planted and applied with three types of herbicides Glyphosate, Paraquat, and 2, - 4D. The herbicides were sprayed at three stages/time of soybean seed development R6, R7 and R8. The experiment was laid as split-split plot arrangement in RCBD, replicated three times at Busia ATC, Mabanga ATC and University of Eldoret (UoE) in 2017 raining season. Herbicides application reduced all the parameters measured except for the seed size at one location. Similarly, time of application also significantly reduced all the parameters measured except for the seed size at one location. It is recommended that; extra early varieties should be planted so as to avoid the effect of herbicides on the parameters measured