Influence of Brown Stem Rot and Cropping History on Soybean Performance. B. W. Kennedy, Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108. J. W. Lambert, Professor, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108. Plant Dis. 65:896-897. Accepted for publication 5 May 1981. Copyright 1981 American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-65-896.

The effects of continuous soybean culture on yield and other characters of 10 soybean cultivars were measured by planting each of four consecutive years in an area that had been cropped to soybeans continuously for 22 yr and in adjacent areas that had been in crop rotation. Maturity (Group 00–11) and lodging were not greatly affected by type of culture. Infection by Phialophora gregata was lower, plant height and seed size were greater, and yield was 13% higher in the rotation culture. Cultivars differed for all plant characters except seed quality. Season × cultivar interactions were significant, but interactions involving culture regimes were not.

Keyword(s): Glycine max.