By:
Tom Nordlie (352) 392-1773 x 277

Source(s):
Ann Blount (850) 482-9849
Ron Barnett (850) 875-7118
Paul Mislevy (863) 735-1314
Joe Wright (863) 453-2499
David Wright (850) 875-7119

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QUINCY, Fla. — A new soybean released by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences offers forage and grain producers a longer planting season, through its unique ability to keep growing under short-day conditions.

“Conventional soybeans must be planted between mid-May and mid-June if they are to attain full size,” said Ann Blount, an agronomist at UF’s North Florida Research and Education Center in Marianna. “Our new cultivar enlarges that window of opportunity to April through July.”

Blount said most soybeans are photoperiod sensitive, meaning they stop growing and begin flowering in mid-summer as the days get shorter. The UF cultivar, known as a “long juvenile,” is not affected by day length and continues to grow until the plant reaches full size.

“Florida needs good, inexpensive summer legumes, and this cultivar will make soybeans more practical for many producers,” she said. “We expect it will be a niche crop, but it should have significant impact within that segment of the market.”

The cultivar, named F91-2161, is currently marketed through Florida Foundation Seed Producers in Greenwood, and should be licensed to a private seed producer soon, said Ron Barnett, an agronomist at UF’s North Florida Research and Education Center in Quincy.

Long juvenile soybeans have the same management needs as standard varieties, and should perform well throughout the southeastern United States, Barnett said. They can be used for grain production, cattle forage and as a wildlife attractant.

“The soybean market is down, so this isn’t the best time for grain farming,” he said. “But things could turn around. The F91-2161 has high yield and a good phytoestrogen profile, so it could be used in women’s nutritional supplements.”

Dairy farmers can grow F91-2161 as a forage, consisting of haylage, silage or green chop, said Paul Mislevy, forage agronomist at UF’s Range Cattle Research and Education Center in Ona. Mislevy has tested the cultivar for two years.

“It has high nutritional value as a forage,” Mislevy said. “And it can work well in multi-cropping systems, especially following spring corn. As a legume, it can help break the nematode and disease cycles that are prevalent in continuous cropping of grass crops like corn, sorghum and small grains.”

At present, Florida dairy farmers often follow spring corn with sorghum, said Joe Wright, president of Southeast Milk, a co-op in Belleview.

“We’re looking for something different,” said Wright, who is also president of V & W Farms in Avon Park. “We could get excited about a summer forage that offers good nutrition and nematode resistance.”

Wildlife certainly are attracted to the long juvenile soybean, said UF agronomist David Wright. In Quincy, test plots of the soybean were grazed to the ground by hungry deer.

“The long juveniles stay tender longer than other soybeans,” said Wright, based at the Quincy center. “Even when the new cultivar is grown alongside conventional soybeans, deer prefer the long juvenile.”

This fall, UF experts will test the cultivar as a wildlife attractant and may use it in a forage blend developed for Florida hunters, Wright said.

F91-2161 is not a transgenic crop, but rather the result of more than 20 years of conventional breeding efforts, he said.

UF agronomists have proposed re-naming the cultivar “Hinson,” in honor of the late U.S. Department of Agriculture soybean breeder Kuell Hinson, who did the early breeding and selection of long juveniles, beginning in the late 1970s. Barnett, Blount, and other UF personnel assisted Hinson.

“He laid the foundation for the F91-2161 cultivar, with help from USDA soybean breeder Edgar Hartwig and UF nematologist Bob Kinloch,” Barnett said. “Without them, we’d be nowhere.”

A legume native to east Asia, soybeans were first brought to Florida for use as forage, Barnett said. The state has produced as much as 450,000 acres of soybeans, but currently produces less than 10,000 acres.

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