Crop-weather relationship of soybean in Marathwada region of Maharashtra

A long-term experiment was conducted during kharif seasons of2013 to 2020 at AICRP on Agrometeorology, VNMKV, Parbhani, to study the crop-weather relationship of soybean grown under four environments (27th SMW, 28th SMW, 29th SMW and 30th SMW) with three soybean varieties (MAUS-158, MAUS-71, and JS-335). Results indicated that soybean yield was significantly highest in (1541.4 kg ha-1) in the early sown crop, and it decreased with delay in sowing with the lowest yield (803.8 kg ha-1). Among the cultivars, MAUS-158 produced significantly the highest yield (1321.3 kg ha-1). Correlation analysis between weather parameters during different phases with the yield revealed that the vegetative and grain formation period of soybean were found to be the most sensitive to weather parameters, as the correlation coefficients with most of the weather parameters. Rainfall, number of rainy days, humidity and soil moisture had favorable effects while temperatures and sunshine duration had negative effects on the yield of soybean in the Marathwada region. Individual weather parameters during 50% flowering to maturity period could explain 40 to 55% variation in the soybean yield while the multiple regression developed all weather parameters during grain formation to physiological maturity period could explain up to 82% variation which could be used the predict the soybean yield in Marathwada region