Occurrence of Diseases and Seed Yield of Early Maturing Soybean Cultivars Grown under the Conditions of Central Europe

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the health status and seed yield of selected soybean cultivars grown in the climate conditions of Central Europe. The health of 22 soybean cultivars was assessed during the study period (2017–2022). Cultivars from two earliness classes (1 and 2) were included in order to capture the entire spectrum of variation in the degree of infection with seven fungal diseases throughout the growing season, i.e., from sowing to harvest. Based on analysis of meteorological conditions in the critical phase of soybean development (from flowering to pod formation), two distinct periods were distinguished according to temperature and rainfall: normal (2017–2019) and anomalous (2020–2022). Ward’s cluster analysis distinguished two clusters that differed in terms of the weather conditions and severity and number of diseases observed for analyzed soybean cultivars during six years of the study. The first cluster included the period 2017–2019, which was characterized as normal in terms of temperature and rainfall. The second cluster included the period 2020–2022, which was characterized as anomalous in terms of temperature and rainfall. In the normal years (2017–2019), only Fusarium of the leaves was not observed during the soybean growing period. Seven diseases were observed in the anomalous years (2020–2022), and the degree of infection of the plants was greater. The Aligator cultivar in class 2, with a longer growing period, showed the highest yield stability. In the anomalous years, yield stability was highest for the class 2 cultivar Viola and lowest for the Acardia cultivar of the same class. In the whole study period, the Abelina cultivar (class 1) had a low coefficient of variation for yield, which means that this soybean cultivar is one of the most stable in terms of yield.