Investigation of reflective mulches effect on soybean physiology character at low light intensity

“” IJAAR welcome all of you to submit your research paper for publication in the field of Agriculture, Agronomy, Horticulture etc. Please submit your manuscripts via Online submission panel .“” The effort to scale up soybean production is by agro forestry system. However, these conditions give a response to the plants because the light is reduced by the canopy of trees so that affects the plant microclimate and plant physiology. This study aimed to analyze the effect of using reflective mulch to physiology character and soybean production in shaded and not shaded conditions. The efforts to increase the light that reach the plants is by using reflector. The research conducted in Bogor, West Java Indonesia using nested design-two factors model, the first factor had two levels, respectively shade 50% (N50%) and without shade (N0%). The second factor had reflector mulches three levels, respectively black silver mulch (MP-PH), metalic mulch (MP-MA) and without mulch (M0). The results showed that the using of reflective mulch in 50% shade condition were able to give a positive response to physiology and crop production. The using of mulch increased the rate of plants photosynthesis significantly in 50% shade condition 14.52μmol μmol CO2.m-².s-1 for the black and silver mulch and 18.17μmol CO2.m-².s-1 for metalic mulch, whereas only 12.61μmol CO2.m-².s-1 for the control (M0). The increase of photosynthesis rate was positively correlated in the increase of crop yields 4.79 and 4.79 tons/ha respectively for metallic mulch and silver black mulch, whereas 2.93 tons/ha for without mulch in 50% shade condition. In 0% shade condition, the potential yield were 5.17, 4.11, 3.43 tons/ha respectively for silver black mulch, metallic mulch, and without mulch. International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research – IJAAR is an open-access scholarly research journal, published by International Network for Natural Sciences. IJAAR publishes original scientific research articles in the field of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences. IJAAR published 2 Volume and 12 issue per the calendar year.Int. J. Agron. Agri. Res. 10(4), 50-56, April 2017