By Rebekah Ray

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Soybeans have been called a miniature miracle because of their versatility.

Soybeans and soy derivatives are being used in a variety of places - coffee creamers, salad and cooking oils, diesel fuels, pesticides, paints, pharmaceuticals, linoleum backings, vinyl plastics, shampoos, chocolate and candy coatings, mayonnaise, cosmetics and bakery products. There are also soy foods like miso, soymilk, soy sauce, tofu and tempeh.

This is great news for Mississippi's soybean producers.

"As a major player in the state's agriculture, soybeans top the number of acres farmed and hold the No. 2 spot in value. State yields during the '70s and '80s averaged 21 to 22 bushels per acre. During the 1990s, state average yields have increased to 26.6 bushels," said Dr. Tom Jones, Mississippi State University Extension Service agricultural economist.

MSU scientists are continuously researching this important commodity, which economists valued at nearly $240 million in Mississippi last year. Its value as a row crop is second only to cotton, which was valued at more than $481 million. End-of-the-year-end records for 1999 showed that Mississippi harvested 1.9 million acres in soybeans, with top production coming from Bolivar, Sunflower, Coahoma, Washington and Leflore counties.

"Change is taking place in Mississippi soybean production and that is very positive," Jones said.

Truett Bufkin, president of the Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board, described some of the work of two MSU researchers. Both have received patents for their work on soybeans.

"Research by Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station scientists and MSU Extension Service's SMART program is helping farmers gain knowledge that will increase their bottom-line profits," Bufkin said.

Several MSU and MAFES researchers are studying ways to enhance soybeans' profitability by increasing yields, controlling weeds and disease, and improving varieties.

Weeds cause significant losses each year in not managed properly. Dr. Normie Buehring is studying sicklepod, a weed pest that reduces yield up to 35 percent. Recent Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board funded research investigated how reducing soybean row width and increasing soybean seeding rate affected sicklepod management and soybean yield. These combinations were evaluated using both conventional and Roundup Ready varieties with different herbicide application schedules.

Buehring's research found reducing row width from 30 to 15 inches improved sicklepod control or increased soybean yield under good growing conditions. He documented ideal row widths and seedling rates for best sicklepod control.

Dr. David Shaw, MAFES soybean specialist, is working with the computer program MSU-HERB, a program originally developed by North Carolina State University and further modified and tested in Mississippi. Users input weed species and population, weed size, environmental conditions, herbicide costs, expected soybean yield and selling price.

The program calculates estimated yield and dollar losses from weeds present, computes the efficiency and net returns for all available herbicide treatments and lists recommended treatments ranked in order of net returns. The software demonstrates benefits of choosing the right herbicide for specific weeds instead of treating all weeds present with one herbicide.

Shaw is also working with mid- and late-season weeds which cause substantially more problems when harvesting early-maturing varieties. He identified a pre-harvest treatment that was effective and economical for a broad spectrum of weeds.

He is working with the NASA Stennis Space Center in Picayune to evaluate the potential of using aerial images to spot weed problems in fields and identify the species. Although still early in its development, this research could tremendously impact the economics and environmental aspects of weed management.

Dr. Gabe Sciumbato, MAFES plant pathologist at the Delta Experiment Station, is studying the diseases to which early maturing soybeans are susceptible and the methods possible for disease control. These beans can be planted up to six weeks sooner than conventional varieties, but the weather and soil conditions are much cooler and the seeds and emerging seedlings are more susceptible to diseases.

Sciumbato tests new soybean varieties for disease resistance or tolerance to stem canker, frogeye leaf spot, charcoal rot and soybean mosaic virus and other soybean diseases. He is also working with Dr. Nancy Reichert, MSU horticulturist, to screen soybean varieties to determine their resistance to charcoal rot. This diseases produces a toxin that inhibits seedling growth.

More than preventing problems in soybeans, some research is aimed to improve the value of the product. Reichert is involved with genetic engineering that introduces DNA into soybean seed embryos. She developed a unique, patented procedure to regenerate soybean plants more easily and efficiently. This new process should enable genetic alteration so that genes can be introduced directly into specific soybean varieties with a much shorter time needed for developing and marketing new transgenic varieties.

Currently, Reichert and other researchers are cooperatively researching methods to develop value-enhanced soybeans and are especially interested in developing soybeans resistant to bean pod mottle virus and soybean mosaic virus.

Contact: Dr. Tom Jones, (662) 325-2671