Glyphosate Tolerant Soybean Response to Different Management Systems

The benefits of glyphosate tolerant crops technology are well-known, and its acceptance by farmers is undeniable. However, results of recent research indicate that, in some situations, glyphosate applied to herbicide-tolerant soybean crops may have phytotoxic effects affecting nutritional balance, photosynthesis and others biochemical process in plants. Despite the increasing information available on this subject, there are still scientific and technical issues that need to be clarified. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the impact of applying different rates, management systems, and formulations of glyphosate to glyphosate-tolerant soybean trough different regions of Brazil in different environmental conditions. Two experiments were conducted over two crop seasons. A 2 × 2 × 5 (formulations × stage of application × doses) factorial design was used in each of them, for a total of 20 treatments with four replications. The study assessed a series of variables related to agronomic performance such as total chlorophyll and yield. The results suggest some problems associated with post-emergent use of glyphosate in tolerant soybean crop as 5% total yield reduction even without phytotoxicity symptoms dependent of season. There was not found any formulation interaction with yield decrease.