Effect of Irrigation Method on Yield and Quality of Soybean

Soybean are sensitive to soil moisture,in order to study the effect of irrigation methods on yield,quality of soybean and water use efficiency(WUE),a field experiment was carried out in 2009 and 2010.Three irrigation methods including conventional furrow irrigation,fixed furrow irrigation and alternative furrow irrigation,and three irrigation amount including 15,22.5 and 30 mm were used in the test.The results showed that appropriate irrigation could obviously improve WUE and yield of soybean.The soybean yield increased obviously with increase of irrigation amount in 2009 which the rainfall was infrequent.The yield,pods per plant,seeds weights and WUE of alternative furrow irrigation 22.5 mm were higher than other irrigation combinations.Rainfall mainly focused in July and August in 2010,so irrigation was carried out in September.The yield of irrigation 22.5 and 15 mm was higher than 30 mm and control obviously.The yield of irrigation 22.5 mm was higher than 15 mm obviously.The difference of yield wasn't significant between irrigation 30 mm and control.The difference of yield of different irrigation methods wasn't significant with the same irrigation amount.Pods and seeds per plant and WUE of irrigation 22.5 mm was extremely significant higher than other irrigation amount.The number of pods and seeds and WUE of alternative furrow irrigation 22.5 mm was extremely significant higher than other irrigation methods.Irrigation could increase soybean protein content to a certain extent.However,oil content was reduced,but the difference of quality wasn't significant between irrigation and control.The results of two years experiments showed that alternative furrow irrigation with irrigation amount of 22.5 mm was the best irrigation combination.