Effect of moisture stress and low phosphorus on yield of some soybean genotypes

Soybean genotypes belonging to different maturity periods were planted under normal, nutrient (P) and moisture stress conditions in a combined design with three replications. The objective was to determine the effect of phosphorus and moisture stress on yield and yield components of soybean in order to select varieties that may be suitable for the northern guinea savannah zone of Nigeria. Soybean varieties differed in their response to nutrient and moisture stress. However there was more effect of moisture stress on yield and yield components than for Phosphorus stress. The effect of stress was more pronounced on number of pods per plants. Yield reduction of 88.95% was observed due to effect of moisture stress. Early maturing varieties had least percent yield reduction probably due to escape mechanism. Keywords: Moisture stress, Phosphorus Soybean genotypes