Michigan’s Thumb research evaluates 2012 Liberty-Link soybeans

Michigan State University Extension educators established a field trial to evaluate Liberty-Link soybean varieties.

Liberty-Link soybeans are genetically modified to be resistant to applications of glufosinate, the active ingredient in Ignite herbicide, a registered product of Bayer CropScience LP. The use of Liberty-Link technology, and Ignite herbicide is useful in breaking a cycle of continuous, or nearly continuous, glyphosate use in Roundup-Ready systems. To that end, Michigan State University Extension educators in the greater Thumb area established a plot to evaluate the performance of eight commercially available Liberty-Link soybean varieties from two participating companies. The objective was to determine which Liberty-Link varieties yielded well in conditions in the Thumb area in 2012.

The plot was established at Gerstenberger Farms, north of Sandusky on May 23, 2012. As in much of the state, June and July were very dry. A generous amount of precipitation was finally received on August 9 and 10 and was largely responsible for high yields.  Despite intentions, Ignite herbicide was not actually used on this trial as the pre-emergent herbicide provided sufficient weed control.  The trial was harvested on October 5 and all results are provided in Table 1.

Table 1. Performance of Liberty-link soybean varieties (Sandusky, MI, 2012)

Company

Variety

Maturity

Seed Trt

Cyst Res/Source

testwt

moisture

Yield
Bu/A

Stine Seed

22LC32

2.2


P188788

57.4

16.3

70.3

Stine Seed

24LC03

2.4


P188788

56.8

18.1

68.3

Stine Seed

25LA20

2.5


P188788

57.2

16.8

68.2

DF Seeds

9251 NLL

2.5

A P V

P188788

57.2

17.0

68.1

DF Seeds

9221 NLL

2.2

A P V

P188788

57.4

16.2

66.9

Stine Seed

14LA36

1.4


P188788

57.4

16.2

66.4

DF Seeds

9161LL

1.6

A P V

None

57.7

15.3

61.2

DF Seeds

9181 NLL

1.8

A P V

P188788

57.5

16.2

60.2

Average





57.3

16.5

66.2

LSD @ 0.05 = 8.1 bu/A

CV = 6.9%

Bolded, italicized yields are not significantly different from top yielding variety.

The educators gratefully acknowledge the support Gerstenberger Farms, cooperating seed companies, and the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee.

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