Performance of Forage Soya Bean (Glycine max) Cultivars in the Northern Balkans

Abstract

Soya bean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is the most important grain legume crop in many West Balkan Countries. A programme on the alternative uses of soya bean such as forage, biomass or green manure has been recently launched in the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, the Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad and the Maize Research Institute Zemun Polje in Belgrade. A small-plot trial has been carried out in Novi Sad and Zemun Polje during 2009 and 2010 with four US forage soya bean cultivars. In both years and at both locations, all four cultivars were sown in late April, with a target sowing density of 75 viable seeds m^{− 2}, and cut in the stages of full flowering or first pods development, mostly in the second half of July. In a 2-year average, the cultivar Donegal had the highest yields of both green forage (63.9 t ha^{− 1}) and forage dry matter (15.1 t ha^{− 1}). In single years, the highest yields were recorded in the cultivar Donegal, in Novi Sad in 2010, with 82.4 t ha^{− 1} of green forage and 18.4 t ha^{− 1} of forage dry matter.