Date Received: 07-08-2014 / Date Accepted: 02-10-2014 / Date Published: 06-08-2025
The use of seeds from immediate previous crop as a seed source for planting soybean is a common practice used by farmers in the Mekong delta. This study was conducted to determine the best time for early-harvesting of MTĐ517-8 soybean seeds for sowing in the next season. Two experiments were conducted (1) to determine the effect of harvesting time on the rate of the germination and seedling quality and (2) to study the effect of harvesting time on the yield. The first experiment was set up using a completely randomized design (CRD) with 5 treatments (20, 15, 10 and 5 days prior to full maturity and mature seeds R8 (control) and 5 replications. The results showed that the rate of germination, root length and root diameter of seeds harvested at day 20 before full seed maturity were not significantly different compared with the control. Six days after sowing, the weight, height and diameter of seedlings from all the treatments were not significantly different with the control. The second experiment was carried out using a CRD with 5 treatments with 5 replications. The results indicated that the height of plants grown from seeds harvested 20 days before full maturity was not significantly different with seeds harvested at maturity. Moreover, the yield components, grain yield and harvest index were not significantly different among all the treatments and control. The study confirms that soybean seeds can be harvested as earlier as 20 days before full seed maturation for the next season seeds.
