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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Urbana, Illinois » Global Change and Photosynthesis Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #275392
Title: Edamame cultivar report - 2011

Author
item Williams, Martin
item HERMAN, THERESA - University Of Illinois
item Nelson, Randall

Submitted to: Midwest Vegetable Variety Trial Report
Publication Type: Experiment Station
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/30/2011
Publication Date: 2/1/2012
Citation: Williams, M., Herman, T., Nelson, R.L. 2012. Edamame cultivar report - 2011. Midwest Vegetable Variety Trial Report. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Available: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/fruitveg/rep_pres/2011-12/toc11.shtml.

Interpretive Summary: Despite the fact that the U.S. is a global leader in grain soybean production, most of the vegetable soybean (edamame) consumed in the U.S. is imported, particularly from China. Fueled in part by increasing consumer interest in the product itself and in U.S. grown products in particular, domestic production of this crop is desired. However, several hurdles exist, including lack of effective pest management tools for commercial-scale production. In order to quantify the risk of crop injury, 122 public and commercial edamame entries were evaluated for their responses to bentazon and imazamox, two postemergence herbicides that provide control of several troublesome broadleaf weed species. Results showed that edamame germplasm, including several cultivars that are adapted to the U.S., have tolerance to bentazon and imazamox. The impact of this research is that it fills an important knowledge gap of edamame cultivar performance in the U.S. The work also may lead to the registration of one or more herbicides for use on edamame, thereby providing the vegetable crop industry with critical weed management tools to support domestic production of a largely imported food.

Technical Abstract: A total of 155 soybean entries were characterized for several important agronomic traits, with 122 of these entries representing commercial or public edamame germplasm. Edamame emergence traits varied greatly among cultivars. Differences in early and mid-season heights among edamame entries indicated considerable variation in plant morphology; however differences were not associated with length of vegetative period. Bentazon applied at 4 pts/A of Basagran did not kill any edamame entries, suggesting that none of the entries are homozygous for the hb allele. However, mean response (injury score of 3.4 out of 10.0) reflects the average response was chlorosis and/or necrosis with some stunting. Imazamox applied at 8 fl oz/A of Raptor was less injurious than bentazon. Mild stunting was only observed in a handful of edamame entries, with most entries having minimal chlorosis and negligible stunting, if any. For both herbicides, injury symptoms observed in edamame were generally short-lived, and plants appeared to resume normal growth within a few weeks after application. Of the four naturally occurring diseases observed mid-season in the field trials at, incidence was observed at relatively low levels for all but Blight. Based on mid-season observations of insect feeding from naturally occurring populations of leaf hoppers, Japanese beetles, and bean leaf beetles, leaf hopper feeding was the most prevalent, with severe incidence observed in several commercial edamame cultivars.