Seed number responses to extended photoperiod and shading during reproductive stages in indeterminate soybean

The number of seeds per unit land area, the major yield component in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) is largely determined after the beginning of flowering, particularly from R3 to R6. Environmental factors increasing crop growth rate (e.g. radiation) or extending the duration of the reproductive phases (e.g. photoperiod) increase the number of seeds. We aimed to compare the mechanisms by which photoperiod and radiation affect the definition of final seed number during the critical period of R3–R6. Two field experiments were conducted with indeterminate soybeans at intermediate maturity group. All plots in each experiment were grown under natural conditions until the beginning-pod stage (R3); and from then onwards different treatments were imposed. Treatments consisted of the factorial combination of two levels of radiation (natural or shading) and two photoperiod regimes (natural or extended). Extended photoperiod increased the duration of reproductive phases, the number of nodes and the number of pods produced on the nodes that flowered during or after the applications of the treatments. Shading had negligible effects on development and node number, but reduced crop growth rate and also reduced the number of pods produced on most nodes of the plants. The number of seeds was positively related to the crop growth rate during R3–R6, but photoperiod increased the number of seeds produced per unit of crop growth rate, due to the lengthening of the phase. The number of seeds was therefore even better related to accumulated growth during R3–R6, irrespective of the factor that increased the accumulated biomass (higher daily radiation or longer duration of the phase) suggesting that long photoperiods increased the number of pods and seeds established per unit land area, mainly through increasing the total resource availability during a phase that is critical for the determination of seed number in soybean. However, photoperiod regulation involved additional changes in the development, evidenced by changes in the pod distribution pattern within the canopy.