Impact of early season insect management decisions on yield of soybean

To determine the optimal seeding rate and utilization of seed treatment combinations for maximizing soybean yield within optimal and late planting dates. Also, experiments were conducted to quantify effects of soybean stand loss and to determine optimal seeding rates at various planting dates comparing three seed treatments. Experiments were conducted to test influence of planter type and seeding rate on soybean. Soybean seed treated with at planting insecticides showed no difference in yield compared to fungicide only treated seed. Also, yields were maximized at low seeding rates where no stand loss occurred. Soybean yields benefited from where seeding rates were increased at 20% and 40% stand loss. Higher seeding rates can provide significant risk of yield and economic losses if no stand loss occurs. Optimal plantings can significantly increase soybean yields compared to later plantings. There was a significant difference in yield where fungicide only treated seed was planted compared to seed treated with a neonicotinoid. Low seeding rates maximized yield at optimal planting dates but were penalized at late planting dates. Soybean yields benefited from increased seeding rates at the later planting dates but there was no difference in any of the seed treatments compared to untreated soybean. Also, there was less variation in inter-spacing of plants at the lower seeding rate compared to higher seeding rate when using the cone planter compared to the other planter types. There was no difference in yield for soybean planted with any of the evaluated planter types. Yield differences were observed from higher seeding rate compared to low seeding rate