Research Projects

Rob Austin, Rachel Vann, Jason Ward, Lindsey Thiessen, Wes Everman, Dominic Reisig, Luke Gatiboni, Anders Huseth

Unmanned Aircraft (drones) are marketed in the agricultural sector as a ‘revolutionary’ technology. Although the technology and corresponding data are truly unique, the application of data outputs for agricultural management decisions (e.g., re-plant, pest management) remain unclear. This interdisciplinary project will investigate the use of drones in five key production areas 1) re-plant decisions, 2) incidence of fungal disease, 3) severity of insect-related defoliation, 4) weed identification and management, and 5) nutrient deficiencies. We will evaluate common commercial drone technology to document baseline potential for decision support in soybean. To do this, we have assembled a team of extension specialists with expertise in four key production areas to help guide technology evaluation, inform the analysis, and extend the information to the grower community. Because the number of fields that can be evaluated with drones remains limited, we will also integrate imagery from satellites as a complementary data source to extend the evaluation to farm-scale recommendations. Tradeoffs between the predictive capability and impact on decision-making will be compared between the two technologies and weighed against the costs and likelihood for adoption. The project will leverage ‘off-the-shelf’ drone and satellite data products and services to perform the analysis, but will also investigate the use of multispectral sensors and custom analytical solutions when there is a clear potential for adoption and profit. The information generated by this project will be used to provide robust training to County Extension Agents and farmers across North Carolina on the use of these technologies to enhance profitability.

Rachel Vann

The University-based Soybean Extension Specialists in the U.S. have been collaborating on common-themed research protocols in an effort to amplify our resources and deliver robust soybean best management recommendations to growers across the nation. The group is leveraging QSSB research funding to maintain local and create national Extension impact in an Extension initiative supported by the United Soybean Board. In 2019-2020, we had two collaborative research topics of focus: foliar fertilizer use in soybeans and sulfur and nitrogen applications at soybean planting. These collaborative research project resulted in 20-25 environments of data produced annually across >10 states as opposed to the 3-4 environments of data that could be generated in North Carolina alone annually. This allows researchers to quickly capture a range of yield and environmental variability when determining production practice impact on soybean yield and to ultimately inform best management practices. The continued success of this national project is contingent on the support of QSSB-funding for localized research efforts. This proposal seeks to request continued support from the NC Soybean Producers Association for collaborative research efforts with focuses for 2021 and 2022 in soil health and soybean N-fixation.

Rachel Vann, Josh Heitman, Ryan Heiniger

Some soybean equipment investments may have a large impact on soybean yield and growers need to know which investments are going to maximize profit in the long run and where they have flexibility to use currently owned equipment. The most common question we get from growers about equipment regards investing in a narrow row soybean planter, typically on 15 inch row spacing. We have a lot of row spacing data in the state, but less is known about the optimal seed delivery method to achieve uniform emergence and optimize soybean yield. Growers in the Coastal Plain also want to know if narrow row soybeans pay in their environment because they have seen wide-row ripped soybeans perform well on their farms. This project seeks to provide foundational information to growers on the equipment investments that are important in soybean production in the state. Two research studies will be conducted annually across North Carolina to address these research questions. Results will be effectively disseminated to County Extension Agents and soybean producers across North Carolina so informed equipment investments can be made.

Rachel Vann

The NC State Soybean Extension Program has historically evaluated foliar products and their impact on soybean yield across many environments. Over the past two years, we have taken a different approach to foliar evaluations, with a focus on foliar fertilizer products that were nationally relevant. This NCSPA-funded work has resulted in considerable Extension impact, however what has become evident is that a program is needed that can evaluate emerging, locally relevant products and their impact not only on soybean yield but also on soybean quality. This proposal seeks partial funding for a foliar testing program within the NC State Soybean Extension program that will annually evaluate relevant products with both producer and industry interest. Products will be evaluated across the state in three regions and will represent a range in yield environments. Results will be effectively disseminated to County Extension Agents and soybean producers across North Carolina so informed investment decisions can be made on foliar product use.

Rachel Vann

A core goal of the North Carolina State Soybean Extension Program is to generate information that will help producers maximize yield. It would be fantastic to see the statewide soybean yield average increase. Such an increase was achieved by our counterparts in the mid-South by shifting to a production system focused on earlier planted, earlier maturing soybeans. This system might be a good fit for some producers across North Carolina, but limited research has been conducted on appropriate planting date and population in earlier maturing, indeterminate varieties by the North Carolina State Soybean Extension Program. A recent verbal survey of North Carolina soybean stakeholders indicated three core areas of interest for applied soybean research that include: using planting date to maximize soybean yield, appropriate maturity group selection based on planting date, and population adjustments across diverse planting dates. This project seeks to provide locally generated data on these priority areas. Most of the recent agronomic research conducted by the North Carolina State Soybean Extension Program has focused on MGV-VI soybeans planted in May or June. We have growers in diverse production situations successfully producing a wide range of maturity groups (MGIII-MGVII); it is critical that we generate planting date and population recommendations across these diverse production situations.

Rachel Vann

The goals of this proposal are two-fold. One: Provide our County Extension Agents with the financial resources to conduct County based activities to showcase the diverse and impactful applied soybean research that has been conducted across North Carolina. Two: Provide support for hosting an annual Soybean Agent Training where agents can see field demonstrations and interface with diverse soybean experts on the fundamentals and the latest research. The NC State Soybean Extension Specialist will solicit mini-proposals from County Extension Agents across North Carolina in January each year for up to $1,000 per proposal. A committee consisting of the Soybean Extension team at NC State and the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association Research Coordinator will review the mini-proposals and decide which proposals will be funded. Once funded, this mini-proposals will allow for agent driven soybean research and extension efforts at the County level. An important goal of the NC State Soybean Extension Team is to ensure our County Extension Agents are trained with the information and skillset needed to most effectively serve our clientele across the state. One way to make sure agents have the most up-to-date production information is by hosting an annual Soybean Agent Training where agents can see field demonstrations and interface with diverse soybean experts. Our goal is that an advanced/management-focused soybean agent training will be offered annually, and that a basic soybean agent training will be offered bi-annually. Installation and execution of the demonstration plots required for adequate training opportunities requires significant technical effort. This proposal also seeks to provide some funding for the Soybean Extension Program technical staff to execute demonstration plots for the Soybean Agent Training.

Rachel Vann

This project seeks to provide both localized and regional information to soybean producers across North Carolina on management practices that contribute to the ‘yield gap’ defined as the difference between maximum yield potential and realized soybean yield. These objectives will be achieved by working with other Southern USA states to gather production information through a comprehensive survey and applying a biophysical spatial framework. These survey results will be used to identify causes of yield gaps across the Southern USA region and within North Carolina. If we can identify management practices that are contributing to the yield gap between maximum yield potential and realized yields, it will help our soybean producers focus on improving management to maximize soybean yield.

Consultants

One of the challenges growers have faced over the last few years is poor seed quality in early planted/early maturity group soybeans. Weather definitely has a large impact on soybean quality – the excessive moisture in early September of 2020 reminded us of that – but growers across our state have also been slowly altering their management practices over the last 5-10 years which may be contributing to more challenges. To help growers combat seed quality issues, we need a better understanding of how to best use harvest aid products in our state. The goal of this work is to understand the influences of harvest aid products and pre-harvest intervals on yield and quality of early maturing, high yielding soybeans in North Carolina.

Consultants

One of the challenges growers have faced over the last few years is poor seed quality in early planted/early maturity group soybeans. Weather definitely has a large impact on soybean quality – the excessive moisture in early September of 2020 reminded us of that – but growers across our state have also been slowly altering their management practices over the last 5-10 years which may be contributing to more challenges. To help growers combat seed quality issues, we need a better understanding of how the timing of a harvest aid application impacts soybean quality. The goal of this work is to determine how harvest aid timing influences yield and quality of early maturing soybeans in North Carolina.

Ben Fallen & Anna Locke

North Carolina soybeans are vulnerable to wet weather and flooding, which can happen at any time during the growing season. In North Carolina flooding is more common in the Northeastern part of the state, where elevation is low and water tables are high. However, heavy rainfall and saturated soil conditions, with no standing water or flooding can still be a very big problem, throughout the state. In 2016, as much as 15 inches of rain fell in a 24-hour period in parts of North Carolina as a result of hurricane Matthew. In 2018, hurricane Florence dumped more than 20 inches of rain in many eastern counties after a prolonged wet summer. In 2020, we have been fortunate enough to miss any significant rainfall resulting from hurricanes passing through NC, but it has been an exceptionally wet season, with periods of prolonged rains and wet conditions. Flooding and/or saturated soils can reduce the oxygen supply to the roots, which can cause a buildup of toxic respired carbon dioxide in the soil and can promote crippling root diseases such as Phytophthora. Up until four years ago when this project was started there were no known flood tolerant soybean varieties available to NC farmers. Previous funding for this project by the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association (NCSPA) and the United Soybean Board (USB) has allowed us to evaluate numerous breeding lines and released varieties for flood tolerance at the Tidewater Research Station at Plymouth, NC, which was no small feat. Implementing a procedure to uniformly subject plants to flood-like conditions was one of the most challenging aspects of this project. The goal of this proposal is to build upon the success of the previous project and continue the process of developing high yielding, flood tolerant soybean varieties specifically for North Carolina farmers.

Rouf Mian

Developing a soybean variety requires a total of about 8 seasons of soybean production. The first 5 are needed to crossbreed the parental stock and develop true-breeding progeny. An additional 3 are required to yield test the progeny in NC and ‘pick the winners’ for farmer use. Normally, 8 seasons of breeding would take 8 years. However, we can shorten the process two years by growing extra soybean crops during North Carolina’s off-season (November through April) at the USDA winter nursery in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is frost free and therefore an excellent off-season environment for North Carolina breeding programs. The importance of the winter nursery is highlighted by the fact that all of the varieties we release in NC are developed using the Puerto Rico winter nursery. The objective of this research is to grow NC soybean breeding nursery materials during the off-season in the Puerto Rico winter nursery. Using the winter nursery speeds the development of soybeans with high yield, drought tolerance, nematode resistance, higher protein & improved oil quality. Because of the long time required for varietal development (8 years), it is essential to have a winter nursery that can reduce that delivery time. Otherwise, it would not be possible to maintain the high productivity and competitive performance of our breeding program. The winter nursery allows us to rapidly take advantage of genetic advances as they occur and get them into applied breeding.

Luke Gatiboni, Rachel Vann, Deanna Osmond, Alex Woodley

The use of best management practices allow some soybean fields in NC to yield 70 bu/A or more, which is double the historical statewide average yield of 35 bu/A. Due to intensive management, usually these fields present adequate levels of soil nutrients and subsequently, the official recommendations of fertilizers for NC soils point to small or null rates of fertilizers, regardless of yield expectations. In an ongoing project sponsored by the NC Soybean Producers Association, we are refining the recommendations of P and K for high-yielding soybeans. In this proposal, we aim to field test supplemental fertilization strategies, at planting (starter N, S, and P) and during reproductive stages (N and micronutrients). The supplemental fertilization strategies will be compared with the standard fertilization program recommended by NCDA&CS using an economic analysis. We will perform this research in eight site-years, four sites in 2021 and four sites in 2022. We will measure yield, soil nutrient levels, nutrient uptake, and nutrient exported in the grain. We are requesting financial support to partially fund salaries (technician and hourly labor), field supplies, travel costs, and, soil and plant analysis associated with the project.

Kevin Garcia

Potassium is an essential macronutrient for plants, and its availability strongly affects biomass production, tolerance to stress, and yield. Since only a small fraction of the soil potassium content is plant available, plants must develop efficient strategies for the uptake of potassium from the soil. The most important strategy used by plants to acquire nutrients is the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis, a mutualistic association between the majority of land plants and ubiquitous soil fungi. AM fungi play an important role for plant and soil health. These beneficial fungi take up nutrients and water from the soil and deliver them to the plant. Although most studies have been done on the acquisition of phosphorus and nitrogen, we have recently demonstrated that AM fungi also have a positive impact on the potassium nutrition in legumes. A better understanding of the strategies used by legumes, and particularly soybean, to acquire potassium will be crucial to improving future crop productivity and environmental sustainability of crop production. The increasing demand for food and the development of alternative strategies for enhancing crop yields while reducing the use of chemical fertilizers represents a critical priority. We propose here to test if similar benefits provided by AM fungi can be observed in soybean in the field and in greenhouse, and to quantify the actual transport of K from the soil to mycorrhizal soybean roots in laboratory condition. The proposed project will allow us to determine whether AM fungi affect the yield, nutrient content, and productivity of soybean under different K regimes. Disseminating these results within the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association will help local soybean growers and producers to breed and select varieties that are able to interact more efficiently with mycorrhizal fungi, and to reduce the use of potash without affecting soybean growth and yield.

Stephanie Kulesza, Rachel Vann, Deana Osmond & Carl Croizer

There is limited information on the impact of poultry litter application on yield and quality of soybeans, and research is needed to determine the optimum poultry litter application rate for soybean production in North Carolina. What we do know is that many high-yielding soybean produces across the state use poultry litter at some point in their rotation, some directly before soybeans. Four poultry litter rates will be evaluated in three locations across the state. Soil nutrient status, soybean yield, and soybean quality will be monitored throughout the growing season. These poultry litter rates will be compared to inorganic fertilizer treatments to determine whether differences in yield or quality are due to nitrogen availability, or other factors such as micronutrients or lime provided by the poultry litter.

Luke Gatiboni, Rachel Vann, & Deanna Osmond

The use of best management practices and technology might allow some fields in NC to yield 70 bu/A or more, defined as high-yielding soybeans. Although soil test phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) levels have been recently confirmed as sufficient, it is unclear if these levels are sufficient for high-yielding soybeans. Recalibration of soil test P and K for high-yielding soybeans is the objective of this research, which will occur at four farmer field sites that routinely harvest > 70 bu/ac soybeans. We will measure the plant tissue-P and -K, and yield during two cropping years. The results will be compared with those coming from three long-term P and K experiments conducted in different regions of North Carolina, in which the yield expectations are close to the average for the state. We ask that the NC Soybean Producers’ Association support the costs of a part-time undergraduate student, field supplies, travel costs, and, soil and plant analysis. Results from this project will be used to help determine the necessity of modifications in P and K recommendations for high-yielding soybeans in North Carolina.

Wes Everman

Recent research and extension activities have led to a good handle on Palmer amaranth management with current herbicides. We need to continue refining the system and incorporating new technology when it becomes available. In order to hit the ground running with 2,4-D, dicamba, and HPPD tolerant soybeans when adapted varieties reach our market, we need to develop management plans and an extension message now. Current weed management programs in soybeans rely on efforts to control Palmer amaranth with overlapping residual herbicides and dicamba, Liberty, or PPO inhibitors applied POST. The new technologies will allow growers to control Palmer amaranth more effectively with “new” POST products in soybeans and the opportunity to apply more than one effective POST mode of action over the top (i.e. Enlist = 2,4-D, Liberty, and glyphosate tolerance). It is important to have a clear message on proper use patterns to ensure optimal weed control and resistance management practices when these are released, not after habits are formed. In order to have a clear message, I plan to conduct systems trials with these technologies to demonstrate the importance of timely application and the use of residual herbicides in the management plan.

Adrienne Gorny & Lindsey Thiessen

Meloidogyne enterolobii is an introduced root-knot nematode species to North Carolina. This species has a broad host range (including many vegetables, field crops, and weeds) and threatens profitable soybean production in this state by causing severe root galling. M. enterolobii is more aggressive than the other endemic root-knot nematode species found in NC. Management of this species through cultural and chemical control is difficult, as it appears to increase population densities to damaging levels even with fumigation. Chemical controls for general nematode control in soybean are limited due to the costs of application and the limited economic return with their application. Identification of varietal resistance is important to continue to economically produce soybean with this pest continuing to spread in North Carolina. Previous screening of the Official Variety Test soybean varieties resulted in no resistance to M. enterolobii being found. This project will screen selected PI lines (n=80) with known resistance to other root-knot nematode species and the soybean cyst nematode to assess potential mechanisms for resistance as well as identify the sensitivity of soybean lines to this new root knot nematode. In addition to identifying resistant varieties, nematodes are frequently managed through cover cropping with non-hosts. Several small grain cover crops have been reported as resistant or non-host to M. enterolobii, however the utility of using cover crops to suppress M. enterolobii is not well understood. This project will screen several NC cover crops for their host status to M. enterolobii as well as their effectiveness in suppressing M. enterolobii in soil, thus providing a benefit to a following soybean crop.

Rachel Vann & Dominic Reisig

Early maturing soybean varieties have several potential benefits for growers in North Carolina, including earlier harvest and increased yield, as well as potential disease and nematode resistance traits that may not be available in later maturing varieties. Managing early maturing varieties may be difficult as environmental conditions and pest pressure in North Carolina differs from where these varieties were developed in the Midwest. While we have some regional data generated on fungicide/insecticide management in later maturing varieties, we have many growers now producing early maturing varieties and it is imperative that we develop recommendations for successfully managing earlier maturing varieties in our environment. Understanding optimal pest management in early maturing varieties is important to maximize their potential in NC.

Matt Bertone

Problem diagnosis is an important tool that cooperative extension agents use in advising producers to select appropriate corrective management approaches. In the absence of such tools, producers are left to attempt diagnosis based only upon visual symptoms that often can be misleading, and to correct problems by selecting among numerous potential practices, products, and advertising claims. Our approach to strengthening crop problem diagnosis efforts is to request funding from each of several commodity groups to fund analysis of samples submitted by cooperative extension agents. This is not intended to cover all analytical needs, but for program support to allow agents to diagnose specific problems important to their region of the state.

Anders Huseth, Alper Bozkurt, Natalie Nelson

Corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea Boddie) has been the target of black light and pheromone trapping networks across North Carolina for decades. Analysis of this historical data has shown that high numbers of corn earworm are positively related to the abundance of soybean in the surrounding landscape (Dorman and Huseth in prep). However, we do not know how to leverage this new analysis into accurate risk predictions for soybean growers. In 2019, the NCSPA funded the development of a real-time pheromone trap targeting corn earworm. Following a period of development and small scale testing, we deployed 20 traps in soybean fields across 5 NC counties. First, we tested the trap durability and identified several improvements that will be needed to move this trap toward commercialization (power usage, additional weatherizing). Second, we documented a remarkable amount of corn earworm abundance variation in space and time. Here, we propose to refine our trap design and develop predictive data analytics using the near real-time data. Results of this work will provide the foundation for grower accessible corn earworm risk prediction tools.

Dominic Reisig, Rachel Vann

Corn earworm is historically the most yield limiting pest in North Carolina soybean production. The robust threshold recommendations that were developed to effectively manage this pest were developed with determinate soybean varieties, however the adoption of indeterminate varieties produced in this state increases every year and what is now needed is robust recommendations to manage this pest in indeterminate soybean varieties. This need is especially critical as seed companies develop indeterminate soybean varieties in maturity groups where this growth habit has been traditionally unavailable (≥MG5). Preliminary work indicates that corn earworm management thresholds likely should not vary between determinate and indeterminate varieties. However, infestation timing might differ, since corn earworms prefer to lay eggs in flowering beans and since indeterminate varieties flower over a longer time period than determinate varieties. This could result in scouting for earworms longer in indeterminate varieties and potentially needing to retreat some fields. The proposed research seeks to determine if corn earworm infestation timings vary for the indeterminate soybean varieties now being produced more widely across the state relative to determinate varieties. We will continue to explore if thresholds should vary for determinate and indeterminate soybean varieties. This proposed research will support a graduate student in the NC State Entomology Program and will be conducted from 2021-2023. The impact of corn earworm pressure will be quantified with both a determinate and indeterminate soybean varieties. Data collected will include: corn earworm eggs number, corn earworm larvae number, soybean maturity, and soybean grain yield. The proposed research will provide foundational management information for corn earworm in indeterminate soybean varieties in North Carolina and will be part of comprehensive management recommendations targeting indeterminate soybean varieties developed by the NC State Soybean Extension Team.

Anna Locke & Ross Sozzani

Extreme weather and intensified cultivation demand new tools for breeding and crop management. Improving crop resilience ultimately requires translation of molecular information to agronomic outcomes. Currently, the improvement of crop abiotic stress tolerance is constrained by the ability to link complex phenotypes with rapidly assayable markers. At present, few breeding programs have directly addressed temperature stress tolerance—especially late-season temperature stress—because of the difficulty of imposing a temperature stress treatment on a sufficient number of individuals to measure yield and seed composition responses in the field and statistically link these with marker data. It is hypothesized that breeders in warmer regions have passively selected for soybean genotypes that are tolerant to higher temperatures, but this has not prevented yield declines as temperatures rise. To improve crop temperature stress tolerance, novel strategies are needed to identify key temperatures stress regulators and develop new biomarkers for use in crop breeding. This multidisciplinary team will use state-of-the-art phosphoproteomics analysis, genotypic data, and physiological information together with machine learning to link key post-translational regulators with the desired physiological and agronomic outcomes, i.e. stable germination and increased yield and protein production during temperature stress. The overarching goal of this project is to increase soybean protein production in non-optimal environmental conditions.

Edgar Oviedo-Rondon, Michael Joseph, Ondulla Toomer

Product differentiation is important to develop better marketing and pricing strategies. As a raw product, the NC soybeans contain 2% points more protein than the ones produced in the East Corn Belt, one percentage point more than the ones produced in the East Coast, and potentially should contain higher levels of lysine and other essential amino acids. The US soybean meal (SBM) normally contain less protein than Brazilian soybeans, but have higher lysine concentration and amino acid digestibility than South American meals. These traits are used for marketing and could help with NC SBM differentiation strategy. This project seeks to determine the value of the overall nutrient content and quality for the NC SBM in feed formulation for poultry, swine and aquaculture, compared to SBM from the East Corn Belt, US Gulf, Brazil, and Argentina. Parametric cost ranging of SBM by origin and estimation of its shadow prices will be used for this objective. This study will include other nutrients, not only digestible amino acids. We will also evaluate different scenarios where price variability of competitive protein feedstuffs may affect shadow prices for NC SBM. Additionally, this project aims to contribute with new information related to amino acid, trypsin inhibitor, and oligosaccharide content by origin and its variability within the USA, protein quality based on higher concentrations of essential amino acids, and other SBM quality parameters. Collectively, this information should be valuable data for a differentiation marketing strategy of NC soybeans and SBM, contribute to marketing efforts of the US soybeans, and aid on improving understanding of the variability due to SBM origin on feed formulation.