ABSTRACT
The soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merrill) is genetically capable of producing far greater yields than are produced today. It is estimated that the soybean plant sheds as much as 50 to 80% of blooms or pods before development. In lieu of producing seeds, the plant uses much of its potential energy and resources to adapt to its environment and sacrifices yields to its efforts to overcome environmental stress. For these reasons, we can produce soybeans throughout the world and in the U.S. from Canada to the Gulf Coast. But for the same reasons, in working with plant regulators, we must consider the variety, the environment, and the cultural practices used in growing soybeans. With numerous varieties and cultivars available, with climates from semitropical to semifrigid, and with cultural practices from continuous cropping to crop rotation and double cropping in diverse soils at numerous densities with and without cultivation, the number of variables under which a plant regulator must perform become almost infinite. How, then, can we produce a growth-regulating compound that can be used successfully in soybean production?
