PRODUCTIVITY OF DIFFERENT SOYBEAN CULTIVARS DEPENDING ON METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS AND GROWING MANNER IN LATGALE 2018–2020

In recent decades in Latvia and other European countries increased interest about growing protein-rich crops and especially soybeans (Glycine max). Although soybean cultivation experiments in Latvia have been carried out for some time, there is still insufficient knowledge about cultivating these plants in the country's climatic conditions. A field trials was carried out in 2018, 2019 and 2020 in the Latgale Agricultural Science Centre. The effect of three factors (A: soybean cultivar (A1 — ‘Lajma’, A2 — ‘Laulema’, A3 — ‘Merlin’, A4 — ‘Tiguan’, A5 — ‘Paradis’, A6 — ‘Touttis’); B: sowing rate (B1 — 40, B2 — 50, B3 — 60 germinable seeds per 1 m2); C: row spacing (C1 — 12.5 cm, C2 — 25 cm) on the development and yield formation of soybean was examined. The experiment was carried out in the framework of the project ‘New technologies and important to look for earlier cultivars to avoid farming risks

IMPACT OF CULTIVATION TECHNOLOGIES ON SOYBEAN PRODUCTION AND QUALITY

Legumes are considered the second most important food source after cereals. One of high protein legume – soybeans is new species for growing in Latvia. Biochemical composition of soybeans is variable dependent on varieties, and highly affected by environmental factors, including fertilisation and the presence of Rhizobium bacteria. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate a chemical composition of soya (Glycine max L) differently fertilized and grown in different places in Latvia. In this study was evaluated protein, fat, fibre content and yield of soybean variety ’Laulema’ grown at different (F1-F6) fertilisation background in Stende and Vilani. Overall results of a three-year analysis (2018-2020) showed that the protein content of soybean ‘Laulema’ ranged from 31.0 to 38.9%, values of total crude fat ranged from 19.4 to 22.4, but crude fibre 10.5-13.7%. Significant difference was observed among fertilisation background, year and climatic conditions. Soybean productivity depends to a large extent on climatic conditions. Providing favourable conditions for the development of Rhizobium bacteria and the availability of balanced nutrients for plants, soybean yield can reach 2 - 3 t ha-2 also in Latvi