Choosing Soybean Varieties that Boost Your Bottom Line

Choosing the right soybean varieties can have upwards of a +19 bu/A¹ impact on final crop yields. When selecting a soybean variety that are several considerations to account for. Use the checklist below to help make variety placement decisions.

Relative Maturity (RM)

A soybean’s relative maturity impacts how much vegetative growth the plant will have before it begins the reproductive growth stages. Soybean maturity is also influenced by weather, planting dates, and other environmental and management factors. Select a maturity that allows for the plant to develop adequate vegetative growth, develop and fill pods during a low-stress point in the growing season, and mature before the first killing frost.

📷 Shared with permission of the North Central Research Station in St. Johns, MI | The photo above shows a soybean trial as varieties begin to mature

Disease Tolerances

Consider the fields disease history to help narrow down a “must-have” list for disease tolerances. No soybean variety will be truly resistant to a disease, but they do all have varying levels of tolerances to disease such as phytophthora root rot, sudden death syndrome, soybean cyst nematode, and white mold.

📷 BASF Employee | The photo above shows a side-by-side of two different soybean varieties and their tolerance to the disease Sudden Death Syndrome. Both varieties are untreated.

Environmental Stress Tolerances

Varieties differ in their responses to environmental stressors such as drought and saturated soil conditions. Speak with your local BASF representative to learn more about how different Xitavo® soybean seed products react to environmental stress.

Agronomic Characteristics

There are also agronomic factors to consider as well such as standability and early season emergence and vigor. For example, if you have a field with a high fertility where plants are likely to grow large and quickly, be sure to pick a variety with strong standability scores.

📷 BASF Employee | Soybeans at the VC growth stage

Seed Quality

Make sure that the seed you are purchasing as undergone rigorous quality checks. Accelerated Aging tests are a great indicator of seedling vigor, cold germination tests help evaluate performance in sub-optimal conditions, and soak tests help ensure seed coat integrity.

📷 BASF Employee |The photo above shows a competitive soybean seed (left) and seed grown and produced by BASF and BASF's strict quality standards (right)

YIELD! Show me the Data!

To help narrow down your choices, look at the data! Universities and other third party organizations have yield trials across the Midwest, and in addition other trials can be found at xitavosoybeanseed.com/yield-results When looking at trial data, it is best to look for trends at multiple locations with like soil types and field pressures.

For more information please reach out to your BASF representative.

Xitavo is a registered trademark of M.S. Technologies, L.L.C., West Point, IA and distributed exclusively by BASF.

¹Average yield difference between the highest and lowest yielding soybean varieties from the 2011 to 2023 FIRST Soybean Harvest Results at www.firstseedtests.com Yield Statistics averaged across all entries from each state for each year. DE, IA, IL, IN, KS, MD, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, PA, SD, WI Not every state had FIRST soybean trials every year.