2007 Research Summaries

The following projects were funded during 2007-08.

Seven research projects win soy checkoff support

Seven soybean research projects, encompassing a broad range of study, have won funding support for 2007-08 from the Pennsylvania Soybean Board.

All told, the board, which administers the national soybean checkoff program in the commonwealth, invested $47,050 in checkoff revenue in the seven proposals for research in soybean production, soy-based biodiesel and a soy protein ingredient for foods and beverages.

Here is a summary of those projects.

• $7,000 to Dr. Greg Roth of Penn State and associates to conduct the 2007-08 soybean variety trails. In 2006 more than 120 varieties were tested at Southeast Field Research Lab at Lancaster and the Russel Larson Research Center in Rock Springs. Seed treatments ands speciality soybeans such as experimental high protein food grades wer included. Dr. Mark Antle, reporting for the research team, said for this year no-till crop production will be used again at Lancaster and that testing of the so-called low-linolenic varieties will be expanded using seed from the Iowa and Maryland breeding programs.

Traditionally, the early maturing varieities, Groups II and early III are planted at Rock Springs and the later Group II and Group IV varieties are tested at Lancaster. This year, because of a growing interested among farmers of the shorter season beans, some Group I seed will be planted at Rock Springs, according to the team’s written proposal.

According to Dr. David Johnson, manager of Penn State’s Southeast Research and Extension Center, the early beans, which are planted as early as possible in April and harvested in mid-September, offer the advantages of avoiding late-season drought, spreading out the labor and machinery work schedules, possibly taking advantage of early season prices and, perhaps most importantly, getting the cover crop and/or small grains in early.

• $7,934 to Dr. Johnson who will begin a two-year exploration of the impact of seed treatments and seeding rates on soybean seed establishment and yield. The study will involve the use of Cruiser Maxx, a seed treatment containing both a fungicide and an insecticide. Cruiser Maxx is very popular with growers but what they need to know, because of its additional cost, iis whether they can lower their seeding rates of whether they can expect increased yields.

• $3,116 to Dr. Sjoerd Duiker of Penn State to investigate if seed coatings can improve the establishment of cover crops when they are broadcast into standing soybeans as the soybeans receive a post-emergence herbicide application.

Because, Duiker said, it appears that the remnants of a soybean crop do not substantially improve soil quality, “The challenge is,” he told the soybean board, “to get cover crops established in a timely manner after harvest of a crop like soybeans” and one way to do that, he suggested, would be to broadcast the cover crop seed, perhaps by air, in standing soybeans at the time of post-emergence herbicide application. Hot, dry weather, however, often prevents any consistent results so Duiker and his colleagues will investigate the possibility of using seed coated with different materials, in the chance that the coating will protect the seed and absorb some moisture unitl the roots anchor into the soil.

• $9,000 to Dr. John Coupland of Penn State’s Department of Food Science to probe the possibility of improving the solubility and flavor of soy protein which could lead to the development, for example, a soy sweetener for the health food market.

• A total of $20,000 to Glen Cauffman and Joseph Perez of the Farm Services division on the Penn State campus for three projects related to the use and development of soy-based biodiesel. As a result of previous year’s research supported by the Pennsylvania Soybean Board, soy-based fluids — both hydraulic and fuel — are widely used on the in equipment, elevators and trucks. This year’s projects will include a study to “improve low temperature properties of B100 from soybean oil:” and the “direct production of biodiesel from flaked soybean seeds.” In that project, Cauffman told the board, students will mix flaked seeds directly with methanol and a catalyst, in an attempt to produce biodiesel without crushing to obtain the oil.