New Crop Opportunities Center Soybean Research Project

Testing novel varieties

To provide reliable information on grain yield and quality characteristics of novel soybean varieties under a wide array of Kentucky growing conditions.
To develop a set of decision criteria for Kentucky soybean producers regarding high-value soybean types.

Breeding soybean for edamame and organic black soybean production

Develop soybean varieties for extended season edamame production (Qualities - large seed, powdery mildew resistant, lipoxygenase free, greater percentage of multiple seed pods).
Develop a lipoxygenase free, black seed soybean variety for organic production.

Optimizing market quality of edamame

Identify the cause of quality problems that occur in marketing edamame.
Determine if use of specific cultivars, modified atmospheres, or new packaging techniques can eliminate the problems.

Mechanical harvesting of edamame

The goal of this project is to develop a scale-appropriate mechanical harvesting system for vegetable soybean production in Kentucky. This goal will be accomplished through completion of the following specific objectives:
Identify and procure a commercial vegetable harvesting machine with potential for use in edamame harvesting. This will likely be a machine designed for green bean harvesting.
Make appropriate modifications to the machine for edamame harvesting.
Test the modified machine under actual field conditions.
Make machinery available to Kentucky producers to help encourage and facilitate development of edamame production enterprises.

Optimizing variety selection and planting patterns for mechanically harvested edamame production in Kentucky

To calculate a mechanical harvest index for different crop canopy architectures to define planting patterns promoting efficient mechanical harvest of edamame.

Whole Farm Analysis of Edamame Production in Kentucky

The fundamental purpose of this research project is to assist Kentucky crop producers by providing procedures and information that will assist them in making decisions of whether or not they can economically justify the adoption of commercial edamame production for frozen distribution. The specific objectives of this project are:

To collect current sales and production data for edamame in the United States.

To establish an appropriate range of alternative planting dates, maturity groups and plant populations for the production of baseline, "traditional" corn and edamame for the study area.

To develop a whole farm management model to assess the economic performance of incorporating edamame into a crop rotation instead of "traditional" soybeans.

To analyze the economic differences between a mechanical method and wheat/rye cover crop for weed control.

To determine break-even acreage and prices to justify commercial edamame production.

To determine maximum distance away from frozen edamame distributors to justify production.

No-till cropping systems for organic and sustainable corn and soybean production

To compare organic no-till and sustainable no-till cropping systems for corn and soybean productivity and economic viability.

To evaluate potential weed-related yield reductions of organically managed corn and soybean.

To determine N requirements of sustainably managed corn in rotation with two legume crops in each two-year rotation.

To consider the impact of rye residue levels on sustainably managed soybean.

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This site was last updated on September 14, 2009

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