Soybean

The Right Soil Type

R7 Tool Soil-Type Map

It’s important to know the predominant soil type of each field to select the best soybean varieties. The R7® Tool lets you view both traditional soil-type maps as well as satellite-derived soil-variability maps. This field-specific information can help you determine the right variety for each field.

Avoid Chloride Toxicity

Extended use of irrigation water containing high levels of chloride can result in damage that is minor, up to nearly complete yield loss in soybean fields. Varieties are grouped as either salt includers or salt excluders.

• The roots of either group take up chloride at the same rate; however, chloride excluders retain chloride in the roots and do not allow toxic levels of chloride to reach the leaves and stem.
• Soybean varieties that are salt includers rapidly move the chloride to the top of the plant, sometimes in a large enough concentration to stop plant growth.
• Soybeans with chloride toxicity will display symptoms that range from faint leaf chlorosis, to a scorched look, to total plant loss.
• The most effective control method for chloride toxicity is planting varieties that are salt excluders. CROPLAN® seed offers a number of salt-excluder soybean varieties.

Common Disease Stresses

Soybean cyst nematode (SCN) can be present in any soil type, but tends to be more dramatic in medium and coarse soils. Rotation and use of genetic resistance such as Peking or PI 88788 are the best options for control. Using Warden® CX seed treatment + Clariva® seed treatment is another tool for nematode control.




Phytophthora root rot (PRR) is a soil fungus that infects plants primarily in the early and late vegetative stage. PRR is most common in poorly drained, fine soils. To manage PRR, use a premium seed treatment such as Warden® CX. Also, select varieties for resistance genes, such as Rps1c, Rps1k or Rps3a, which have excellent PRR field tolerance.




Sudden death syndrome (SDS) is a fungal disease common in cool, moist growing seasons. SDS is often tied to SCN infections and early planting in medium to fine soils. There are currently no varieties with genetic resistance to SDS. CROPLAN® seed offers many high-yielding varieties with excellent SDS tolerance.

Variety Performance in Different Soil Types

Answer Plot® data show the importance of selecting the correct variety for your soil type based on its characteristics, as this can create a difference in yield potential. In this example, Variety A has the highest percent of mean in a medium-type soil, yet there are other products that could have been selected to achieve a higher rank on that soil type. In comparison to other products on fine soils, Variety A is actually one of the top-performing varieties. Variety B also expresses its greatest percent of mean on coarse soil, and performed better than Variety A.